Ostentatious events of local governments should be cut down

The government has received a total of 196 requests event costs for next year amounting to 636 billion won (586 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 43 percent from last year. Local governments are planning to host international events one after another before calculating profitability. Once an international event is decided, the hosting local government modifies original budget and asks the central government for more money. This resembles national projects, which submit intentionally slashed budget to get approval, then increase the budget later.

The Strategy and Finance Ministry said Wednesday that it would take up a scalpel to correct indiscreetly planned international events of local governments. From now on, the central government and metropolitan governments will be able to organize international events spending more than 1 billion won (922,000 dollars) of taxpayers’ money, and primary local governments will not be allowed. The ministry also said that it would cut one third of the budget requested by local governments. In May, the government announced that it would support up to 30 percent of event costs. Before this limit was put in place, there must have been quite a waste of taxpayers’ money.

An official who made a false document in which the government had promised a large sum of budget support in relation to the World Swimming Championships was arrested. Local government heads try to use international events for re-election and spend taxpayers’ money. Financially needy local governments use international events for securing some budget. Therefore, the Strategy and Finance Ministry should make a post-evaluation on international events supported by taxes to use the result for the next year budgeting.

U.S. President Barack Obama often mention "tax payer" in his speech regarding national economy. This is an attitude that puts taxpayers first in policy making because a country is run by people’s money. Deputy Prime Minister Hyun Oh-seok said that since next year’s tax revenue will not be much, the public sector should further cut down expenses. In order to improve financial status of local governments, international events for showoff should be cut down along with the scope of support by the central government.