Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over Next Year's Budget: 'Debt Bonanza' vs. 'Growth Engine'

The ruling and opposition parties clashed at a public hearing of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts on the 30th over the record-high 821 trillion won budget plan for 2027 and the Future Response Fund. The Future Response Fund is to be created with surplus tax revenue generated by the semiconductor boom. The ruling party emphasized that it should be spent on securing future growth engines, such as investment in advanced strategic industries, while the opposition party raised concerns about fiscal health, arguing that national debt would increase, prolonging the dispute.

The People Power Party focused its questioning on fiscal sustainability and National Assembly oversight. Rep. Na Kyung-won said, "Looking at this government's budget and finances, my impression is, 'Isn't this a debt bonanza?'" citing sustainability as the most important criterion. About the Future Response Fund, she asked, "Isn't it being seen as a 'money machine' that allows the president to spend freely before next year's general election?"

Rep. Bae Joon-young called the fund a "fund for disappearing futures," pointing out that issuing additional bonds to pile up 104 trillion won in surplus funds would create 106 trillion won in government debt, which he flagged as a violation of the National Finance Act. Rep. Lee Jong-wook raised concerns that the fund could become a loophole bypassing National Assembly oversight, saying, "There is a fundamental question of whether expansionary fiscal policy is justified when the country is not in a crisis."

Experts who testified at the hearing on the government's budget plan for next year gave mixed assessments. Kim Jung-hun, head of the Center for Fiscal Policy Studies, evaluated the Future Response Fund as an institution for managing AI-related surplus tax revenue over five- or ten-year periods rather than a single year. Woo Seok-jin, a professor at Myongji University, also said he agreed with using surplus revenue during boom periods for future investment and fiscal stability, citing positive assessments from the OECD, the World Bank, and the IMF. In contrast, Yang Jun-mo, a professor at Yonsei University, argued that boom-period revenues cannot be treated as permanent resources, called for fiscal consolidation, and urged scrapping the Future Response Fund plan. Ok Dong-seok, professor emeritus at Incheon National University, also argued that the fund's treatment as revenue and expenditure outside the budget violates the constitutional principle of budget comprehensiveness.

The hearing, held at the second plenary session of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, covered the 2027 budget plan and fund operation plan. With the two parties divided over the appropriateness of expansionary fiscal policy, the 821 trillion won budget plan and the Future Response Fund will be addressed during the committee's review process.