On August 20, the government and the ruling party discussed plans to establish a 'Future Response Fund' utilizing additional tax revenue from the semiconductor boom, but did not finalize the specific size of the fund. While there are predictions that the fund could exceed 100 trillion won, no concrete figures were mentioned.
The Democratic Party of Korea and the government held a meeting at the National Assembly to discuss the operation of the Future Response Fund and the direction of education grant reform. Attendees included Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do, Policy Committee Chair Kwon Chil-seung, National Assembly Finance and Economy Committee Chair Cho Seung-rae, and National Assembly Budget and Accounting Special Committee Chair Lee Kwang-jae, along with Minister of Planning and Budget Park Hong-keun from the government.
After the meeting, Kwon stated to reporters, "We listened to the government's explanations and exchanged opinions," adding that no decisions had been made regarding the fund's size. He further noted, "There were discussions about exceeding 100 trillion won, but no specific numbers were provided."
The Future Response Fund is a proposed initiative by the government aimed at utilizing increased corporate and income tax revenues from the improved semiconductor market to support youth, future growth drivers, regional development, and talent cultivation.
To facilitate this, the government is reportedly considering abolishing the current local education finance grant system linked to domestic tax revenues and introducing a new grant formula that reflects the average economic growth rate over the past three years and changes in the school-age population. However, members of the Democratic Party's Education Committee are advocating for the current system to be maintained, indicating internal disagreements within the party.
Representative Baek Seung-a, a member of the Education Committee, stated, "Overall, the Education Committee members support maintaining the linkage system," emphasizing the need to keep the current domestic tax linkage rate at 20.79%. Consequently, the government plans to announce the establishment of the fund and the grant reform proposal on August 21 following discussions with the Democratic Party.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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