A group representing Korea's progressive Protestant churches on Monday unveiled its proposal of tax, welfare and other policies for adoption by candidates in the December presidential election based on its own analysis of the government's budget spending.
The proposal, which focused on taxation justice and broader welfare benefits, will soon be sent to each presidential candidate as well as legislators and civic and social organizations, said the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK), which prepared the proposal together with Christian youth organizations, including the National Council of the Young Men's Christian Associations of Korea.
Religious groups have often criticized government policies from religious points of view and made policy proposals. But none of these suggestions has been based on any direct study of government budget spending, the NCCK said.
"Political slogans have so far been rampant in this society. But we thought the best way to know if the nation's social system is being run in a way that befits the slogans is to see how the government budget was organized," Kim Young-joo, a manager of the organization, told Yonhap News Agency.
In the proposal, the NCCK urged that fairness be ensured in levying taxes and that any special government treatments for conglomerates and financing income be brought to an end.
The government must devise measures to limit market dominance by conglomerates known as "chaebol" in South Korea, reject pressure for such a populist policy as giving tax cuts for the wealthy and raise tax rates to secure money necessary to improve the welfare of the people, the Council said as such issues as "economic democratization" and welfare are shaping the presidential election.
Conglomerates have been credited with driving the country's economic growth in recent decades by spearheading exports, but critics accuse them of hurting smaller companies and widening income gaps through their market domination and concentration of wealth.
Out of 92.6 trillion won ($84.5 billion) in the government's welfare budget for this year, only 1.3 trillion won was allocated to the vulnerable, the Council said, citing figures from the welfare ministry.
"The amount of the welfare budget appears to be large, but when you look closely into it, you can find that a very little amount goes to the poor as most of the budget is spent in accumulating pensions for civil servants and constructing buildings for welfare," Kim said.
On the North Korea policy, the Council said the country's humanitarian aid to North Korea should never be stopped or become a subject of political deals and events for temporary reunions of families living separately in the two Koreas should continue.
Resumption of inter-Korean economic cooperation projects, reduction of military budget by both sides and a full reduction of the budget for the controversial project to build a naval base on the southern resort island of Jeju were also included in the policy proposal.
The NCCK earlier had a forum on the details of problems with the government budget and possible countermeasures in July.
The council said it plans to hold another forum next month with all presidential candidates attending to hear their views on the policy proposal. (Yonhap)