Hong Joon-pyo, a candidate for the People Power Party presidential primary, pledged on the 28th to abolish inheritance tax, which hinders the succession of small business family operations. He also noted that he would consider flexibly operating the 52-hour work week and applying the minimum wage differently.
During a meeting with the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, Hong said, "Due to inheritance tax, there are many cases where people selling small businesses switch to real estate investment or rental businesses," adding, "Inheritance tax should be exempted when passing on a family business."
Participants, including Kimgi-moon, president of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, erupted in applause at this meeting. Hong is the first presidential candidate to visit the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Hong said, "The level of inheritance tax in our country is severe, which undermines the sustainability of small businesses," adding, "Large corporations should also have their inheritance tax reduced."
He also mentioned the 52-hour work week and the minimum wage, which are considered long-standing wishes in the small business community.
Hong stated, "We need to flexibly implement the 52-hour work week and allow for flexible layoffs," explaining that "since layoffs are the most difficult in the world, corporations tend to only hire non-regular workers instead of regular employees. The differentiation between regular and non-regular workers has been debated for 30 years. If flexibility in layoffs is guaranteed, such issues won't arise."
He pointed out, "The minimum wage being too high at 10,030 won is killing small businesses, small merchants, and self-employed individuals," adding, "Due to the minimum wage, self-employed people can't hire people and must have their entire family work together. In the case of small businesses, applying the same minimum wage to foreign workers has intensified management difficulties for small businesses."
He emphasized that, "We cannot ignore reviewing the application of the minimum wage by region, industry, and status of foreign and domestic workers."
Hong said, "It is incorrect that the composition of the minimum wage commission includes major corporation unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which have no relevant connection, and it should be organized around stakeholders such as small business owners and those from small businesses."
He added, "Because strong unions have established themselves, our manufacturing industry cannot develop," noting, "We must reorganize strong unions for our country to become an advanced nation."