Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae said the central government should cover 56% of fire service costs, with local governments shouldering the remaining 44%, weighing in on a funding dispute that has drawn attention in recent weeks. Choo, who has declared a fiscal emergency in the province, met with floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and asked them to "give us an oxygen tank."
Choo spoke to reporters on the 27th after meeting at the National Assembly with Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do and Lee Kwang-jae, chairman of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, to discuss next year's budget. "I asked them to give us an oxygen tank so we can resolve the fiscal crisis, the fiscal emergency," she said. "I told them we are desperate."
Citing research by the National Assembly Research Service, Choo said fire service duties are designated by law as local affairs but that 43% of them are national in nature. "If we divide the duties shared by the central and local governments, the split in financial burden comes out at roughly 56% central and 44% local," she said. "I told them the state should bear that much of the cost." She said ruling party officials "expressed agreement with the intent" of her proposal.
Choo also told the party and the budget committee that the local consumption tax rate should be raised to 40% from the current 25%. "I proposed this some time ago and raised it again this time," she said, adding that she was told most lawmakers agreed with the idea. "Raising the local consumption tax rate to 40% can serve as an oxygen tank to relieve the fiscal crisis only if it takes effect this year," she said. "I asked for help in making it effective immediately, starting this year."
With Gyeonggi the only local government in the country whose population is still growing, Choo also called for measures to address rising welfare costs. She pointed to what she described as a contradiction: when Seoul residents who own homes in the capital enter nursing homes in neighboring Gyeonggi, they pay property taxes to the Seoul city government while drawing welfare benefits funded by Gyeonggi.