On the 12th, there is still a notice about the sale at a store that closed in Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. Although the government is providing support for small business owners, which is a third disaster support fund due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the number of small business owners abandon their business and close their business due to lack of support and high rent is increasing. yunhap news
As claims that the government’s business bans and restrictions on self-employed persons may be unconstitutional, voices are gaining momentum that the standards and manuals for damage compensation should be specified.
Whenever social distancing is reinforced, the compensation principle should be set in advance, rather than varying the compensation according to political affiliation or available budget.
Damage compensation for self-employed and small business owners, there is no principle
According to the National Law Information Center on the 13th, in the current infectious disease prevention method, there are no related regulations as well as standards for compensation for losses for self-employed persons and small business owners according to quarantine measures.
Compensation rules exist for cases where medical institutions are closed or suspended due to quarantine measures, but self-employed persons are not, of course.
Since there is no compensation standard, the payment of disaster assistance due to business bans and restrictions has been arbitrarily made. There is no specific principle, except that the amount is differentially supported in the order of’prohibited business-restricted business-general business with reduced sales’.
In fact, the government provided a new desired fund of 1.5 million won after imposing restrictions on business at restaurants and cafes in August and September last year, but only 2 million won is provided as a support fund after the eight-week limit from November to this month. . The period of business restrictions increased four times, but the support fund only increased 1.3 times.
“Government should’deal’ with small business owners… The longer the distance, the more rewards”
For this reason, experts point out that it is necessary to create a manual in advance to link the level of social distancing and the amount of compensation.
“The government should not only ask small businessmen to close their doors unconditionally,” said Yang Jun-seok, a professor of economics at Catholic University. “If you strengthen your distance or keep it for a long time, you will not only compensate for the damage, but also avoid the fact. “You have to notify the self-employed in advance.”
There are also voices that it is necessary to perform tailored compensation work by identifying specific sales and income declines as well as the distance period.
Hyeon-soo Choi, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, said, “If the tax report is completed in May and June, the sales and income reductions of self-employed and short-time workers can be identified in detail.” I have to do it.” He added, “From a mid- to long-term perspective, we need to establish a system that can grasp income in real time.”
Financial resources are also urgently needed… “If you cannot share voluntarily, you have to worry about the’solidarity tax'”
It is urgent to raise financial resources as much as the damage compensation standard. Disaster subsidies paid so far have been using reserve funds and additional budget (additional budget), but larger financial resources are required to achieve proper compensation. Although it is possible to pay a debt based on relatively good fiscal soundness, it is not possible to issue government bonds recklessly considering the fact that the national debt ratio has recently risen rapidly.
For this reason, some parties, including the Justice Party, are also discussing ways to temporarily collect additional taxes for certain groups such as large companies and ultra-high income earners by introducing a’special disaster solidarity tax’. Lee Sang-yi, co-president of the Social Welfare Society, said, “The idea of the benefit-sharing system of the Democratic Party’s representative with Nak-yeon Lee is okay, but it is difficult to see a big effect in reality.” “You have to worry about it.”
Sejong= Youngha Son reporter [email protected]
The new standard changed by Corona, the new normal of’un·home·sl·on’ is coming.
