As gas bills and heating costs continue to explode due to the cold wave, a ‘random tax’ has emerged as a hot topic.
On the 25th, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, proposed introducing a random tax in connection with the rapid increase in heating costs.
CEO Lee said, “Recently, the operating profit of oil refineries has increased tremendously, so many bonuses have been paid to their workers that it is difficult for the people to understand them easily.”
He continued, “It is recommended that workers be paid, but I hope that the excessive operating profits of oil refineries can offset the pain of the people a little by levies, if not as much as the random tax adopted in Europe and elsewhere.”
A random tax refers to the tax imposed on the excess profits obtained through luck due to rapid changes in government policy or the external environment. It is an income tax collected in addition to normal income tax for the proportion of profits earned by a company above a certain standard.
According to the oil refining industry, Hyundai Oilbank paid performance bonuses at a level of 1,000% of the basic salary. Employees of SK Innovation, GS Caltex, and S-Oil receive incentives ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 percent of their monthly basic salary.
In this regard, Representative Cho Gyeong-tae, the leader of the people’s power party, urged the entire nation on the 29th to provide temporary emergency heating cost assistance.
Representative Cho held a press conference at the National Assembly’s Communication Hall that day and said, “Politicians and the government must immediately organize an ’emergency heating cost support supplement'” and “Emergency heating cost support must be provided to every citizen, even for a limited time during the winter season.”
“Even if we only spend 6.4 trillion won, we can support heating costs for every citizen for 3 months on 100,000 won per month,” he added.
In the meantime, the government will extend support to the vulnerable class that was hit by the ‘heating cost bomb’.
On the 18th, the Ministry of Industry published the ‘Guidelines for Reducing City Gas Charges’, which aims to apply the cheapest general rates (business 2) to social welfare facilities.
According to the notification, the business rate 2 will be applied to city gas used in social welfare facilities between January 1 and March 31 this year, and if the fee has already been charged, you can get a refund later . Social welfare facilities such as Jeongneung Nursing Home receive an average rate reduction of 42%.
In addition, on the 26th, the government announced that it would double the amount of energy voucher support for 1,176,000 households of the vulnerable class and the reduction on gas rates for 1.6 million households subject to social consideration, this winter only. Compared to the same period last year, the discount width increased to 2.6 times and 3.0 times, respectively, the Ministry of Industry added.
