People Power Party lawmakers on the Gangnam-gu Council have come out strongly against a provision in the government's 2026 tax reform plan that would introduce a new deduction cap for single-homeowner long-term residency income deductions.
Fourteen PPP members of the Gangnam-gu Council held a press conference Thursday morning at the council chamber on the sixth floor of the district assembly building, issuing a joint statement and calling on the government to fully review and revise the tax reform plan.
The lawmakers displayed a banner reading: "We oppose punitive tax hikes tantamount to confiscating real estate — how dare they cap deductions for single-home owners!"
The lawmakers said the government's tax reform plan would excessively restrict the property rights of single-home owners who have lived in their homes for many years, and could undermine fairness and predictability in the tax system.
In their statement, the PPP members said the government's 2026 tax reform plan was "not a reform that revitalizes the Korean economy, but a tax-hike-driven policy that strangles it." They added that converting the long-term holding special deduction for single-homeowners into a long-term residency income deduction while introducing a new cap "could impose an excessive tax burden on people who have lived in their homes for a long time."
They said housing price increases over the long term include a substantial portion attributable to nominal price inflation, and that failing to reflect this adequately could result in taxing not just real income gains but inflation-driven price increases as well.
The lawmakers also expressed concern that elderly long-term single-home residents with limited liquidity could face a significant burden when it comes to relocating or drawing on their retirement assets.
The lawmakers called on the government and the National Assembly to take four steps: fully withdraw and restart from scratch the 2026 tax reform plan; delete the provision introducing a 1 billion won ($705,000) cap on the long-term residency income deduction during the revision process for the income tax law; introduce an inflation-indexing system for acquisition prices, raise the deduction cap to a realistic level and establish exemptions for long-term residents; and put in place adequate transitional provisions so that the new deduction cap does not apply to holding and residency periods that have already elapsed.
Eun Myeong-ju, the PPP's floor leader on the council, said the tax system "should not be a tool for increasing the burden on citizens, but a national strategy for growing the economy and preparing for the future," and strongly urged the government and the National Assembly "to move toward rational reform that gives full consideration to protecting the property rights of long-term single-home residents and ensuring tax fairness." She added that the council would "continue to convey its views to the government and the National Assembly to bring about institutional improvements that protect the residential stability of Gangnam-gu residents and the property rights of the people."
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