Assembly set to pass budget bill

Rep. Park Ki-choon, right, the newly-elected floor leader of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), speaks during a meeting with senior DUP members at the National Assembly, Sunday. Park said the DUP would work with the ruling Saenuri Party to approve the budget within year’s end. Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

The National Assembly is set to pass next year’s budget bill today that will have a bigger percentage for social welfare than this year amid rising demands for social policies.

This came after negotiators of the ruling Saenuri Party and opposition parties reached an accord on key issues.

The leaders of the budget committee, Kim Hack-yong of the Saenuri Party and Choi Jae-sung of the Democratic United Party (DUP), agreed on issuing 900-billion won ($844,000,000) government bonds in need of about 1.6 trillion won for President-elect Park Geun-hye’s welfare pledges. Also, they agreed to lower the base for aggregate taxation on financial income from 40 million won to 20 million won to fill the rest.

The stagnant talk went into overdrive as Saenuri Party accepted the DUP’s suggestion to minimize the government bonds in exchange for raising more money from the financial income taxes to plug the hole. The budget talk stayed at a deadlock after the first bid had been botched on Nov. 22.

Initially, the ruling party lawmakers pushed for issuing over 1-trillion won government bonds, trying to fix the base at 25 million won. But on the heels of Park’s statement on Thursday, “Issuing the government bonds is needed to be minimized,” they backed down.

“We now have a big picture. Thus, if the ruling and opposition parties cooperate until the end, there is a high chance for the agreement to be reached,” Choi said. “The next year budget will cover a wide range of welfare areas including college tuitions and free meals at school.”

DUP spokesperson Lee Un-joo also said the ruling and opposition parties talked until 3 a.m. to reach an agreement on the budget, noting “the process is almost over.”

“After the presidential election, the budget talk has been delayed because Park’s pledges need to be factored in,” Lee said.

The tentative gross expenditure is expected to be roughly 342.7 trillion won, which is 200 billion won bigger than the government’s original plan.

The expanded welfare project includes easing college students’ tuition burdens, expanding financial support for childcare services and social insurance for low income earners.

The gross government revenue is expected to be 373.3 trillion won, which is also 200 billion won larger than the government’s initial plan.

However, it bears further watching to see the details of the plans and specific size of the money.

The budget committee is anticipated to hold a subcommittee meeting to finalize the budget, and the National Assembly is expected to hold a plenary session on Monday to pass it.