[Editorial] More Officials, More Taxes

The number of public officials increased by 23,000 after the Roh Moo-hyun administration was launched, and the government has announced an additional increase of about 400.

But before discussing how appropriate another increase is, consider the cases of other nations. Germany is implementing a plan to reduce its public officials by 8,000 over five years. Singapore is reducing its public officials by three percent each year, and Japan has decided to cut the number of its public officials by 10 percent, or about 33,000, until 2009.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is leading a plan to halve the public official employment cost to GDP ratio. The United States is an exemplary nation with a small government. No well-run nation seeks a huge government.

However the Roh administration says it is aiming for “an efficient government rather than a small government.” The goal of “strengthening public service” may seem commendable at first glance, but more taxes are needed in a large government. Public official employment costs, which stood at 16.8 trillion won in 2003, increased 13.5 percent to 19 trillion won in 2005.

If the trillions of won needed for additional public official employment costs were used in the private sector instead of being collected as taxes, a greater increase in investment, employment and consumption would be possible. President Roh has always said, “the government’s efficiency cannot be as high as companies.” Rather than increasing the number of public officials with more tax collection, cutting the number and providing the private sector with more capacity to invest and consume is the way to reduce the number of the unemployed, who now number around 900,000.

With more public officials, it is highly likely that regulations will also increase. Instead of upgrading public service, more officials would strengthen regulation and undermine the vitality of companies and the market. In 2004 World Bank data, the “quality of regulation” of the incumbent government that increased the number of public officials was lower than the former administration’s.

There has been no administration in history as huge as the current administration, which habitually forms new committees and is constantly hiring more officials. If the government truly wants to enhance the quality of public service, restructuring is necessary regarding the many public officials who are complacent in their secure positions. Some of these officials should be sent to serve the public at government service windows.