‘1조 적자 비상’ 경기도, 재정위기 극복 ‘두 갈래’ 전략은?

Gyeonggi Province, burdened with a yearly integrated fiscal deficit exceeding one trillion won, has proposed a two-pronged strategy to overcome its fiscal crisis. The province's economic affairs secretary announced the "Recovery from Fiscal Emergency Task Force (TF)" activities report at a press conference on the 31st. Following three weeks of intensive discussions and expert validation over the past month, the TF aims to secure an additional one trillion won in revenue within the current nine-year term of the provincial government (2027-2030).

Key execution plans include strengthening tax collection management, attracting additional revenue through new sources such as rental car registrations, and promoting earnings from Gyeonggi-based public corporations. The province plans to closely monitor the financial health of these corporations and ensure that a portion of their profits are returned to the province's treasury as legitimate business profits.

To address the outdated local fiscal structure, the province proposes revising the tax law to raise the value-added tax on local consumption to between 40% and 25.3% from its current rate. This shift could potentially bring in approximately 1.4 trillion won annually in additional revenue for Gyeonggi Province.

The province also aims to convert the 44% portion of the tobacco consumption tax, currently used for local education, into funding for fire and safety personnel. Despite spending over 1 trillion won annually on fire department personnel and budgets, the national government's support is only 130 billion won, leaving a significant financial burden on the local government.

Other proposed measures include distributing 5% of corporate income tax to local governments responsible for infrastructure investments, and correcting overly optimistic estimates of the fiscal income and unreasonable estimates of fiscal expenditure. These measures will be implemented under the "Paygo" principle, which requires submission of a resource allocation plan for new projects. The province remains committed to protecting public safety, basic welfare, and future investment budgets.