President Lee: "It Is Desirable to Accept Public Objections to the Tax Reform Proposal"

President Lee Jae-myung Presides Over Cabinet Meeting on August 11
Hints at Adjustments to Tax Reform Plans Including Real Estate and ISA
Tells Deputy Prime Minister, "Just Crawl If You Have To"

President Lee Jae-myung stated on August 11 regarding the tax reform proposal, "When there are objections from the public, it is desirable to accept them." This remark is interpreted as an indication of his willingness to partially revise parts of the proposal that faced significant opposition, such as those related to real estate.

Presiding over the Cabinet meeting at the Government Complex Sejong on the same day, President Lee clarified, "(It is not necessarily consistent) for the government to simply proceed as decided, regardless of other opinions." He added, "If criticism is made solely for the sake of criticism based on a single uniform standard, social problems cannot be resolved," and emphasized, "If different opinions arise and are reasonable, the right approach is to reflect them."

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Complex Sejong on August 11, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee's remarks appear to be made with the recent controversies over the real estate tax reform plan in mind. The government is currently pursuing a plan to reduce the taxable threshold for non-residential single-home owners for comprehensive real estate holding tax from the current 1.2 billion won to 900 million won, and to apply the same criteria as multi-home owners for couples who co-own a single home. However, public dissatisfaction has been mounting, as the number of public comments requesting revisions to the tax law exceeded several thousand within just a few days after the legislative notice was issued.

There is also a high likelihood that the proposed changes to the Individual Savings Account (ISA) tax scheme will be revised. The government announced it would limit the term of the ISA—which until now could be extended indefinitely after three years—to five years and introduce a new productive finance ISA that does not allow for investments in overseas ETFs such as U.S. stocks. Since these accounts would expire at regular intervals, compounding effects would be diminished. Furthermore, the new ISA’s restriction on purchasing overseas ETFs has prompted criticism among investors, who argue this is unreasonable.

Regarding this, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-cheol explained, "We submitted a tax bill, but this is not the government's finalized proposal," and added, "We will gather sufficient feedback from the public until the 20th, revise the plan, and submit it to the National Assembly. Lawmakers will further supplement it to enhance the quality." The tax reform proposal will continue to be revised until it is officially submitted to the National Assembly.

In response, President Lee said, "Anyone who changes taxes is bound to be criticized," adding, "Those who benefit from the changes remain silent, while those who bear increased burdens develop strong resentment." He then joked with a smile, "You should just crawl if you must." Deputy Prime Minister Koo also responded with a smile, saying, "Yes, I understand."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.