Reform must not put burdens on most
classes
There are no fewer than 226 different kinds of tax cuts in Korea. Revenue loss from these reduced and exempted taxes amount to 30 trillion won ($27 billion) a year, or nearly half of all earned income. This can hardly appear normal to anyone’s eyes.
The government is therefore right to roll up its sleeves to reform the complicated, and often ineffective, tax credit system. So is the direction of the systemic
, which focuses on abolishing or reducing various tax benefits heavily skewed in favor of large businesses and wealthy individuals.
For instance, the tax cuts for capital spending, or investment into plants and equipment, were renewed once again this year, although it had long been on the ``sunset list” during the past 18 years. The proposed revision to the tax code also aims to sharply
tax breaks for businesses’ and research and development spending, which have mainly benefited the affiliates of family-controlled conglomerates.
If and when these tax cuts do not produce intended effects, it’s only natural for the government to undo them.
By clogging these tax
s, the government expects to raise additional revenue of 18 trillion won, about 15 percent of the total 135 trillion won needed for President Park Geun-hye’s welfare programs. It remains to be seen whether President Park will be able to withstand powerful lobby by big businesses and rich people, which has
ed all similar efforts by her predecessors. Park’s dire need to have more financial resources may be reason for optimism this time around.
On the other hand, the Park administration’s anxiety to squeeze as much revenue as possible can inflict collateral damage on the most vulnerable classes, namely small-scale farmers and fishermen as well as mid-to low-income urban wage earners. The withdrawal of tax exemption on savings by working families and deductions on their educational and medical expenses will likely further strain their livelihood amid a prolonged economic slump. It’s as if the government gives welfare benefits with one hand and takes away tax breaks with another.
No less problematic is the retraction of deductions on spending settled by credit cards, which squarely runs counter to another of Park’s pledges to bring the greater part of the underground economy into the open.
The indirect, or ``virtual,” tax increase, as officials put it, give one a rather inauspicious feeling that the new tax code will end up like a ``Procrustean bed,” deliberately axing or adding rules and criteria focused on only one policy goal _ maximizing revenue without direct tax hikes by raising tax rates or introducing new taxes _ as President Park pledged. The government might be able to raise some more by eliminating wasteful spending and bringing more of the shadow economy into the sunlight. Still it is clear that all these efforts will fall far short of raising even half of the welfare budget.
The only way to do so is to tax financial assets _ stocks and properties _ which will add 30 trillion won to revenue a year. This is not to bash the haves but to follow the examples of other advanced countries.
During last year’s election, we said all welfare promises without tax increases are a sham. The same is true today, and will always remain so.
This is The Korea Times editorial for Friday, June 28, 2013.
※ 다음에 나오는 문제들은 본 사설에 나오는 중요한 어휘들로 구성된 토익, 토플, 텝스 기출 및 예상 문제입니다.
※ Choose the one word or phrase that best keeps the meaning of the highlighted part.
1. Young people are
the influences of the Internet.
① persuaded by
② appeased by
③ programmed to
④ susceptible to
2. The government agreed to
the country's economy in which Korea's long-neglected banking crisis finally lead to an IMF bailout.
① develop gradually
② inflate
③ examine thoroughly
④ boost rapidly
⑤ invest
3. A number of
still remain in the campaign contribution law.
① unprofitable sections
② logical arguments
③ ways of evading rules
④ descriptions for cheating
4. Even though I had spent hours getting ready for the event, all I took was one little phone call to
my plans.
① frustrate
② encourage
③ support
④ criticize
※ Choose the best answer for the blank.
5. The evening's entertainment was __________ by an electrical power cut.
① abbreviated
② compressed
③ condensed
④ curtailed
[해설 및 정답]
1. [번역] 젊은이들은 인터넷의 영향을
다.
[정답] ④
2. [번역] 정부는 한국에서 오랫동안 무시되어온 금융위기가 마침내 IMF 긴급 구제를 받게 되는 결과를 가져 온 국가 경제를
동의했다.
[정답] ③
3. [번역] 그 선거운동기부법에는 많은
이 여전히 남아 있다.
[어휘] loophole 틈새기, 구멍, (법률, 규칙 등의) 허점, 맹점(way of evading rules, way out)
4. [번역] 내가 비록 그 행사를 준비하는데 수 시간을 보냈음에도 불구하고, 내가 받은 모든 것은 나의 계획 을
하찮은 전화 한통이었다.
[정답] ①
5. [번역] 그 날밤의 오락은 정전으로
.
[어휘] curtail 짧게 줄이다, 단축하다, 생략하다(shorten, cut short ↔ run on 끊지 않고 계속하다); (비용 등을) 삭감하다(cut back); 축소하다, 줄이다(reduce)