It has been confirmed that the government is predicting additional tax revenues worth 32 trillion won this year.
Through this, a second supplementary budget of 20 to 30 trillion won was formulated, and it was discussed between the party and political parties about providing customized support to the affected and vulnerable groups such as small business owners and workers with special types of workers (special high schools), and at the same time providing subsidies to the general public. is becoming
Various subsidies are being developed so that they can be paid as early as July, depending on the type of countermeasures.
According to government authorities and the National Assembly, the government is internally predicting an additional tax revenue worth 32 trillion won this year.
Additional tax revenue is the gap between this year's revenue budget (283 trillion won) and this year's expected national tax revenue (315 trillion won), and is the most important indicator to gauge the size of the second supplementary budget the party is pursuing.
This is because the concept of this second supplementary budget is to put more tax revenue collected than expected to resolve the 'K-shaped polarization' that occurred after the Corona 19 crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced on the 4th, "This supplementary budget will utilize additional tax revenue without issuing additional deficit government bonds."
Democratic Party floor leader Yun Ho-jung also remarked on the 3rd, "It is not an extra budget by borrowing money, but it is to return to the people the financial leeway created by more tax revenues in the first half of the year."
An official from the ruling party explained, "It is the part of the party's opinion that the party government agrees to make an additional budget within the range of excess tax revenue without additional issuance of government bonds."
National tax revenue in the first quarter of this year was 88.5 trillion won, up 19 trillion won from a year ago.
However, it is difficult to predict the annual tax revenue forecast as it is a mixture of temporary factors such as tax delay and the base effect that occurred in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis a year ago.
For this reason, it is said that the government internally estimated the annual revenue forecast for this year based on the recent tax revenue situation, but set it privately and reported it informally only to key lines of the ruling party.
The government and the ruling party are reviewing a second supplementary budget plan worth 20-30 trillion won this year based on these forecasts for additional annual tax revenue.
The government estimates that even if the additional tax revenue is 32 trillion won, the central government can spend around 20 trillion won in the supplementary budget after 39% is settled with local subsidy tax and local education financial subsidy.
The ruling party sees the entire 32 trillion won as a supplementary budget.
Among the additional tax revenues, the government sees 20 trillion won in the supplementary budget and the ruling party sees 32 trillion won, respectively.
There is an observation that the actual size of the supplementary budget will not be the middle line between the two figures.
This is because some of the funds provided by the central government to the provinces can be returned as disaster funds.
Last year, the government received around 20% of the local government's support for disaster relief payments.
There is a possibility that the total scale of countermeasures will exceed 30 trillion won if it includes support for the vulnerable and affected groups such as small business owners and special high schools, measures for domestic demand and employment, and measures against vaccines.
There are parts to add to the supplementary budget by changing the nature of this year's already set budget or by restructuring expenses.
The government is scheduled to release the second supplementary budget while announcing the economic policy direction for the second half of this month.
Considering the timetable of the ruling party to pass the supplementary budget bill in July, the subsidy can be paid as early as July.
However, this is based on the assumption that subsidies such as small businesses and special high schools will be implemented in the same way as before.
The supplementary budget and total measures have been outlined to some extent, but the direction of details such as domestic demand/employment measures, vaccine measures, and support for the vulnerable and affected groups has not been set yet.
In particular, it is expected that there will be a struggle between the ruling party, who believes that the national disaster aid is absolutely necessary for the recovery of domestic demand, and the government, who believes that it is desirable to give aid to the vulnerable and affected groups if at all possible.
(Photo = Yonhap News)