Do campaign pledges have to be kept 100 percent? Once it was commonly said here that it is better for successful candidates to forget their election promises as soon as possible.
President-elect Park Geun-hye vowed to spend 135 trillion won over five years to make good on her pledges, mostly pork-barrel projects aimed at attracting votes ahead of the election. Given her trademark sense of principle and efforts to form trust, Park will do what she can to deliver on her promises.
On Sunday, Park’s transition team said the Ministry of Strategy and Finance will come up with viable measures to raise funds needed to keep her election pledges by the end of this month. Of the 306 pledges made by the President-elect, 252 need financial support that will require funding measures.
Park reportedly expressed her displeasure with some government agencies that showed negative reactions to the feasibility of some of her pledges during policy briefings since last week.
Park’s firm determination to keep promises is laudable, but it’s unrealistic if the ministry has to draw up a funding blueprint ― 27 trillion won per year ― within barely 20 days.
In fact, many of Park’s pledges are questionable in terms of reality because of the excessive financial burden they will incur. For example, Park pledged to cover all medical expenses for four critical illnesses including cancer, which will cost 1.5 trillion won a year. But the Ministry of Health and Welfare estimates that at least 3 trillion won will be needed annually for her expanded health coverage programs.
The transition team says 135 trillion won can be raised over five years by reducing unnecessary or overlapping spending and strengthening the review process for state-funded projects and collecting more taxes through tax reforms. But this is only rosy and unrealistic, given that all previous administrations have produced little by cutting expenses and raising revenue.
National Tax Service Commissioner Lee Hyun-dong convened a meeting of heads of regional tax offices Monday to step up their tax collection efforts in order to help meet the anticipated spike in demand for welfare spending. But inordinate tax collection by the tax agency could dampen economic activity at a time when the economy is still slowing.
Park’s seemingly ambitious plan to broaden the revenue base by regularizing the ``underground economy’’ has its own limitations because of the lag time before additional taxes can be collected and associated privacy problems.
For now, there are two options ahead of Park ― one is to prioritize her pledges and drop impractical ones after apologizing to the people and the other is to embark on raising taxes while begging us to share the pain.
Park should make a bold decision during the early stages of her tenure if she is not to be swayed by her pledges over the next five years.