[Provided by the North Gyeongsang Provincial Council]
[Provided by the North Gyeongsang Provincial Council]

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Council has come out against the government's plan to establish a new future response fund.

The council said Monday that the government's push to create the fund and revise the Local Allocation Tax Act and the Local Education Finance Grants Act amounted to a unilateral move made without consultation with local governments.

In a statement issued that day, the council said it "cannot accept" any restructuring of local fiscal autonomy without sufficient prior consultation with local governments, even if the stated rationale is preparing for the nation's future.

The council also said the current government had previously put forward policy goals — including raising the local allocation tax rate, improving the ratio of national to local taxes to expand local fiscal autonomy and decentralization, and strengthening public education to close educational gaps — but that the latest reform push runs counter to the spirit of those stated goals and that prior consultation with local governments and the education sector had been inadequate.

The council urged the government and the National Assembly to take four steps: revisit from scratch any revenue-raising plan not sufficiently agreed upon with local governments; establish procedures for gathering local input before implementing any system with a major impact on local finances; design fund distribution to prioritize regions facing population decline and fiscal hardship; and redesign the proposed revision to the Local Education Finance Grants Act to comprehensively reflect regional educational conditions and actual fiscal needs.

Council Speaker Kim Hee-su said the statement was aimed at protecting the independent revenue sources that form the foundation of local autonomy and decentralization. "We ask that the government and the National Assembly listen carefully to the voices of local communities and approach this matter with caution," Kim said.


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com