President Lee Jae-myung will preside over a National Fiscal Strategy Meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on the 13th to discuss plans to use so-called "additional tax revenues." With the semiconductor industry boom expected to increase tax receipts for the next several years, the core idea is to create a new "additional tax revenues" concept under a special law, instead of "excess tax revenues," an existing statutory term with specified uses, and spend it on regional balanced development and youth policies. Cheong Wa Dae said the meeting will present a rough blueprint.
On the day, under the theme "Opening an irreplaceable Korea through bold innovation and investment," the president will discuss the Lee Jae-myung administration's future fiscal and investment directions. About 130 people will attend, including Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom, Office of National Security Director Wi Sung-lac, Fiscal Planning Aide Ryu Deok-hyeon, Democratic Party of Korea Acting Leader and Floor Leader Han Byeong-do and Policy Committee Chair Han Jeong-ae, Ministers from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Budget Planning Office, and figures from academia, research institutes, and civil society.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Budget Office Minister Park Hong-geun will announce the 2027 budget plan and the midterm fiscal management direction, followed by the Ministers of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE), and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport unveiling support strategies for the three mega projects (semiconductors, AI data centers, physical AI). Next, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol will outline the direction of youth policy, and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon will present plans to strengthen the social safety net, followed by topic-based discussions.
In particular, the blueprint will also include plans to create and use a "future response fund." Under the National Finance Act, "excess tax revenues" have strictly defined uses such as repaying Government Bonds, but separate from that, the government will establish a fund to use tax revenues for supporting the three mega projects it is pursuing, infrastructure investment, responses to polarization, and balanced development. The competent ministry is the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
To use excess tax revenues elsewhere, the law must be revised or a special law must be enacted. Cheong Wa Dae is reviewing the creation of a special law. First, the ruling party will set up a body related to the establishment of the fund, and around late Aug., when next year's budget plan is drafted, it will disclose detailed plans. On this, Aide Ryu Deok-hyeon said on the 7th, "We will build consensus by fully communicating through academia, the media, and various public bodies, in compliance with legal procedures."