Justice Party candidate Shim Sang-jung criticized People’s Strength candidate Yoon Seok-yeol’s pledge to abolish stock transfer tax, saying, “Isn’t it the Samsung Lee Jae-yong family tax cut law?”
In the first court TV debate hosted by the National Election Commission on the 21st, Candidate Shim said, “Candidate Yoon promised to abolish the stock transfer tax, but do you know why the stock transfer tax was introduced? The vice chairman’s family will have to pay 12 trillion won in inheritance tax for five years,” he said. Then, he criticized, “I doubt the intention of Candidate Yoon, who is well aware of this situation, to abolish the stock transfer tax.”
Candidate Yoon denied, saying, “No.” Candidate Shim said, “Candidate Yoon said that he was worried regarding super ants leaving the capital market, but if he earns 100 million won, he pays 10 million won in taxes and takes 90 million won. If not, I will leave.”
Candidate Yoon said, “It is not common for large shareholders of chaebol companies to buy and sell their stocks in the stock market. He continued, “Our stock market is also very difficult, but it is distorted by a transfer tax,” he said.
However, the current stock transfer tax refers to a tax levied on the gains on the transfer of ownership, such as stocks or equity shares, to another person. It is levied on major shareholders with 1% stake in the KOSPI or 2% in the KOSDAQ or with a total holdings of KRW 1 billion by stock. In other words, it is a tax that does not apply to most ant investors. The tax levied when trading stocks is a transaction tax, not a transfer tax.
Candidate Shim reiterated that “there is a high potential for abuse like the anomalous succession of the Lee Jae-yong family.”
On the same day, the spokesperson for the People’s Power Forward Headquarters related to the debate said, “Candidate Yoon, regardless of whether he has big or small hands, needs a lot of money to flow into the stock market and activate it, so that ordinary investors can make a profit, and now it is necessary to further vitalize the stock market. “Until the stock market in Korea rises to a significant level, we will leave the securities transaction tax alone, and when the situation comes where all corporate values are properly evaluated, we can design it in the usual comprehensive taxation system,” he said.
