President says will be no tax hike for low-income firms, people

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Friday that a tax hike was inevitable to fund the new government's 100 policy tasks but that there will be no tax increase for average citizens or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

"Initially, the ways to fund the policy tasks included a tax increase, but we have been unable to set the scope or direction of the tax hike," the president said in a meeting with over 200 policymakers from the government and the ruling party to discuss ways to finance his policy objectives.

"It is now time to decide. But even if we raise tax, it will affect only the highest income-earners and the largest conglomerates," Moon said, according to his spokesman Park Soo-hyun.

"There will be no tax increase for the middle-class, ordinary citizens or SMEs. That is the direction (of the tax policy) that will continue over the next five years," he added.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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