The government is launching a multi-agency task force (TF) aimed at reducing the financial burden on workers and increasing their disposable income. The TF will focus on five key areas: reducing living costs, caregiving for children and parents, asset formation, job stability, and healthcare, while also exploring tax, financial, and fiscal support measures and reviewing the implementation of existing policies.
The Ministry of Finance announced that Deputy Minister Kwon Daeyoung held a kickoff meeting for the 'Salary Defense Task Force' on November 13 with relevant ministries. This TF is a follow-up to a meeting led by Chief of Staff Im Kwang-hyun on November 9, where it was decided to establish the task force within the presidential office.
The multi-agency TF will be led by Deputy Minister Kwon and will consist of four teams: a review team for existing support measures, a tax team, a fiscal team, and a financial team. Each team will be responsible for assessing the implementation of existing policies and identifying new tasks to report back to the TF. A working group, chaired by the Director of the Ministry of Finance's Innovation and Growth Office, will also be established to facilitate inter-agency discussions and resolve issues.
The government has noted that workers are facing increasing economic difficulties due to changes in the labor market resulting from industrial restructuring, rising living costs, and the burden of caregiving for children and parents. In response, it plans to comprehensively review measures to alleviate tax burdens, reduce living costs, and provide income support.
During the meeting, the TF also reviewed support measures for workers included in this year's tax reform bill and next year's budget proposal.
The tax reform bill proposes to relax the income requirements for spouses and dependents eligible for the basic deduction from an annual income of 1 million won to 3 million won. It also increases the annual limit for monthly rent tax deductions from 10 million won to 12 million won.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which supports low-income working families, will also be expanded. The income requirement for dual-income households will be raised from under 44 million won to under 52 million won, and the maximum payment will increase from 3.3 million won to 3.6 million won. The income range eligible for the maximum payment will also expand from 8 million to 17 million won to 8 million to 18 million won.
Next year's budget proposal includes an expansion of the 'Everyone's Card' refund to reduce public transportation costs. The refund rate for the general public during peak commuting hours will increase from 20% to 50%, a 30 percentage point increase. Additionally, discussions were held on supporting the full tuition for 60,000 new students at local national universities in 2027 and establishing the 'Our Child Independence Fund' to alleviate education costs and support asset formation for children.
However, these measures can only be implemented once the National Assembly approves the tax reform bill and budget proposal.
Deputy Minister Kwon stated, "The tasks included in the 2026 tax reform bill and the 2027 budget proposal are directly related to the livelihoods of workers next year. We will respect the discussions in the National Assembly and work closely with both parties to ensure that these measures are swiftly implemented as soon as they are passed, allowing workers to feel the impact on the ground."
The government also plans to identify new support measures from each ministry while reviewing existing policies. The new tasks discussed will be further refined through additional inter-ministerial consultations.
Deputy Minister Kwon emphasized, "We will closely communicate and coordinate with the Salary Defense Task Force within the presidential office. For the next two months, we will operate the multi-agency TF intensively to actively identify and promote policy tasks that workers can feel in their daily lives."
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.