Cheon Ha-ram, floor leader of the Reform Party, directly criticized the "high fuel price damage subsidy" included in the government's supplementary budget, calling it a "Democratic Party election fund."
"Stop calculating political gains and losses and, if it is a high fuel price damage subsidy, at least fix it so that it can be used at all gas stations," Cheon said at a Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday.
The government has limited the high fuel price damage subsidy to gas stations with annual revenue of 3 billion won or less.
"Of the 2,278 gas stations in Gyeonggi Province, only 197, or 8.6%, have revenue of 3 billion won or less," Cheon pointed out. "Even nationwide, only 42% of gas stations can accept the damage subsidy."
He added, "Gas stations have a high proportion of cost and fuel taxes, so dividing small gas stations by whether they have more or less than 3 billion won in revenue is not very meaningful. If citizens have to run from one gas station to another like this, they are likely to give up on using the high fuel price damage subsidy."
Cheon also criticized the government's reasoning. "The government says, 'If the fuel price damage subsidy is concentrated on gas station use, it may undermine the policy purpose of supporting local neighborhood commercial districts as a whole.' Then why did they name it a high fuel price damage subsidy?" he said. "They are confessing that it is actually a 'Democratic Party election fund,' just given a less obvious name."
"They scattered money for election purposes, but do they think it will be less helpful to their votes if it is only used at gas stations?" he said. "I strongly urge them to correct the situation so that there are no cases where the high fuel price damage subsidy cannot be used at gas stations."
