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| 추경호 부총리 겸 기획재정부장관. (사진=연합뉴스) |
[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho said on the 7th that he is "not considering at all" regarding the introduction of a sideways tax claimed by the opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
Deputy Prime Minister Choo responded to the question by Rep. Lee Sung-man of the Democratic Party, "Would you like to impose street taxes like Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic?"
Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "Companies sometimes benefit or lose money depending on the economy or market conditions," and asked back, "How will you interpret the loss of 5 trillion won in 2020?" "When (the company) makes a lot of profits, we pay more taxes and use such resources to control them so that the people are not burdened by cutting oil taxes," he said.
Regarding heating cost bombs, he said, "We froze the price of energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) when international prices rose 300-400%," adding, "Because (energy prices) continued to rise until last year, we could not afford the cumulative deficit of the Korea Gas Corporation, so we had to reflect some of the international price hikes."
Due to the unprecedented cold in December, the amount of use has increased significantly, he said. "As gas use has increased tremendously and prices have risen, it has put a public burden on the heating notice."
When Rep. Lee asked, "Isn't it a procedure to privatize the Korea Gas Corporation?" Deputy Prime Minister Choo replied, "We won't privatize it." "The Korea Gas Corporation and KEPCO still have some stakes in the private sector," he said adding, "We will not do privatization that completely hand over ownership of all management rights."
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork@alphabiz.co.kr)
