Politics of irresponsibility

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Politics of irresponsibility

The political circle’s response to the Constitutional Court’s ruling that parts of the comprehensive real estate tax are unconstitutional has been bizarre.

The opposition Democratic Party says it will block a revision of the tax despite the top court’s ruling, while the ruling Grand National Party still wavers on the amendment’s direction.

The political circle treats the court’s ruling as reason for a political row instead of taking responsibility for enacting the law and then quickly trying to amend it.

Democratic Party Chairman Chung Sye-kyun called the Constitutional Court’s ruling a “really bad one.” This is a truly ill-chosen and ignorant remark for the chairman of a political party to make.

Despite the court’s ruling, the Democratic Party has resolved to block the revision to the comprehensive real estate tax law no matter what. The party says the court’s ruling will cut taxes only for the rich.

Did the opposition party only plan to accept the Constitutional Court’s ruling if it suited its taste and to deny the Constitution if didn’t match their opinion?

The ruling Grand National Party isn’t any better. The administration and the governing party are working to amend the comprehensive real estate tax on the premise that it will be integrated into the property tax.

But Grand National Floor Leader Hong Joon-pyo said that the comprehensive real estate tax must not be linked to the property tax. Grand National Policy Committee Chairman Yim Tae-hee said that the tax base for the comprehensive real estate tax should be lowered from 900 million won ($633,000) to the original 600 million won. This appeal to popular sentiment reflects the opposition party’s argument that the revision will only benefit the rich.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling means that the comprehensive real estate tax is punitive and should be corrected. So revising the law with that in mind is the only thing to do. There is no need to become unnecessarily sidetracked.

Politicians should think about why the comprehensive real estate tax went to the court in the first place. It was because the National Assembly passed a tax law that ran a high chance of being proved unconstitutional.

The tax became a national controversy but the National Assembly still didn’t act to revise or abolish the tax. And now it is commenting about the Constitutional Court’s ruling. This is very irresponsible.
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