President Lee Jae-myung on the 28th proposed imposing a so-called "sugar tax" on corporations that use excessive added sugar. The idea is to introduce related taxes to reduce sugar consumption, which leads to chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and to use the revenue collected for each region and the National Health Insurance. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended its member states adopt it in 2016, and in the ruling party, lawmaker Jeong Tae-ho, a secretary on the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee, once pushed legislation by holding a related forum.
That day on X (formerly Twitter), the president shared a news report introducing the results of a poll on a sugar tax and wrote, "Like tobacco, restrain sugar use through a sugar levy and reinvest that levy to strengthen regional and public health care. What do you think?"
A sugar tax has also been discussed in the National Assembly. In Sep. last year, Jeong co-hosted a forum with the Constitution Memorial Association and the Seoul National University National Health Initiative on the theme of "introducing a tax on excessive sugar use." Currently, more than 120 countries are adopting a sugar tax. The logic is that curbing the intake of sugars and artificial sweeteners through taxation can lead to improved public health and reduced social expense. At the time, the discussion produced the view that "it should be seen as an investment to prevent public disease rather than a way to secure tax revenue."
Recently, the president has expressed views on various taxation systems several times through social media. On the 23rd and 25th, he mentioned on X the "suspension of the heavier capital gains tax on owners of multiple homes" and the "special long-term holding deduction for one nonresidential home," respectively, noting problems with tax equity. He then said the suspension of the heavier capital gains tax on multiple-home transfers, which ends on May 9, will no longer be extended. The system was implemented under the Moon Jae-in administration, but immediately after the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the enforcement decree was revised to suspend it in one-year increments.
The president also said, "One home is not the same as another one home," and asked what people think about granting benefits even to a "smart single unit" held without being lived in. He also said that different standards should be applied to a single nonresidential home than to one that is actually occupied. The idea is to revisit at the government level, through public debate, whether it is reasonable to grant tax cuts solely because the property has been held for a long time.