Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, on the 22nd addressed expected excess tax revenues driven by a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) and the semiconductor industry, saying, "We must focus intensive investment on projects for future generations and boldly invest in discovering new growth engines so that quality jobs can expand." How to use excess tax revenues has emerged as a key issue after Kim Yong-beom, the presidential office policy chief, publicly proposed a "national dividend system" recently.
According to vice spokesperson An Gwi-ryeong of Cheong Wa Dae, Kang chaired a senior secretaries' meeting at Cheong Wa Dae that afternoon and said the government should discuss fiscal reform tasks for future generations in broad terms. Kang also said, "We must fully guarantee opportunities for future generations to directly participate in the policy formation process."
As differing views have emerged within the ruling bloc over how to use "corporations' excess profits" and "excess tax revenues" the state will collect, Kang said Cheong Wa Dae should lead related discussions in light of the burden on future generations. The government is also reviewing ways to use record excess tax revenues as resources for sovereign wealth funds or to create and channel them into new funds. In the process, it could lead to a turf battle between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
Kang said, "Let's find reasonable alternatives from the perspective of the national interest and future generations so that the present and future generations can share the burden of running the state fairly and secure investment resources for future generations."
Cheong Wa Dae has mentioned options for using excess tax revenues multiple times. President Lee Jae-myung, at a press conference on May 8 marking the first anniversary of his inauguration, called using excess tax revenues for fiscal expenditure like ordinary tax revenues "an abdication of the role of fiscal policy" and "a foolish act." Separately, on the social debate over distributing corporations' excess profits, Lee said it is "highly contentious," adding, "Basic income advocated in Silicon Valley is becoming a reality, but if only Korea goes first, it could lead to a situation where corporations all flee."
Earlier, policy chief Kim Yong-beom also said in May, "The fruits of the AI era are not the result of a single corporation alone," and proposed introducing a "national dividend system" to return excess tax revenues to the public.