High Publicity Expenses for Real Estate Measures in Anticipation of Tax Resistance

It was revealed that the Government Information Agency (GIA) and the Ministry of Finance and Economy earmarked 4.3 billion won for expenses to publicize real estate countermeasures, a somewhat large sum, to prevent tax resistance.

A high-level government official said on August 11, “The real estate measures to be announced on August 31 will be on tax system reforms and transparent transactions. There may be a possible backlash over the increase in real estate tax, and to prevent this, the publicity expenses were set at 4.3 billion won.”

This official added, “The general outline of the real estate measures has been made, and the related organizations are discussing over whether to announce together the plans for the new city development project or not.”

Some pointed out that the publicity expenses are too much, but the GIA replied back, “A nationwide advertising campaign is necessary to build a national consensus and make the policy more fully understandable.”

Kang-Myoung Chang tesomiom@donga.com