The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) decided to hold a two-day plenary session of its lawmakers this week to decide whether to go ahead with tax cuts for the wealthy and big businesses and to discuss its welfare policy for the working class, a party spokeswoman said Monday.
The dates were set at a party leadership meeting, Bae Eun-hee, the spokeswoman, told reporters.
The party will vote on the tax cuts on Wednesday after a debate, Bae said. On Thursday, the GNP will discuss "pro-seomin (working class)"
measures proposed by its special committee on the issue, she said.
Last year, the conservative government led by President Lee Myung-bak, a former Hyundai CEO, decided to give a 2 percent tax reduction to top-bracket corporations and individuals starting in 2013. The tax cut was one of the crux of Lee's presidential campaign pledges along with pro-business deregulations and market-friendly policies to spur economic growth.
But the presidential election coming up in December 2012 and the deepening plight of the country's working class raised demands within the
GNP to reconsider the tax cuts as criticisms mount that the ruling party is siding with the rich.
The ruling bloc last month declared it would transform itself into a more centrist party and focus on welfare of more needy people.