Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Ministry of Interior and Safety, addressed concerns about the financial burden on local governments due to the Future Response Fund, stating, "We are planning to ensure full funding for projects to minimize local matching burdens."
During a National Assembly audit on October 6, Yoon responded to questions from Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hyun regarding local financial burdens and autonomy.
He added, "We are also considering plans to grant local governments the authority to lead decision-making and policy design for projects."
Yoon explained that of the 15 trillion won allocated to the local account of the Future Response Fund, 3.5 trillion won will be distributed from general funds, with the remainder to be spent on project costs from the fund. This aims to minimize the matching burden on local governments.
Concerns were raised by People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin, who questioned whether the central government was attempting to control resources that should be allocated to local governments through local grants by placing them in the Future Response Fund.
In response, Yoon clarified, "The local grant tax rate of 19.24% will remain unchanged," emphasizing that the goal is to secure strategic investment for future responses.
He further noted, "This year, the total local grant tax is about 63 trillion won, and it is expected to increase to around 70 trillion won."
Earlier, the government announced plans to establish a 162.3 trillion won Future Response Fund, utilizing increased tax revenue from the semiconductor boom in the upcoming budget.
However, there are concerns that the establishment of the Future Response Fund may lead to a change in the calculation criteria for local grants, shifting from the current '19.24% of domestic tax' to '19.24% of domestic tax excluding the Future Response Fund reserves,' potentially worsening the financial conditions for local governments.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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