South Korea is not considering changes to its auto tax scheme to facilitate a free trade pact with the United States, a government official said Thursday.
The U.S. is demanding that South Korea's auto tax system be changed in a way that levies auto taxes based on fuel efficiency and price instead of engine capacity. U.S. carmakers usually manufacture big-engine cars that place them at a disadvantage.
In exchange, the U.S. said it could scrap its 2.5 percent import duties. Washington imposes 20 percent duties on South Korean-made pickup trucks, and Seoul wants those measures removed as well.
"Reforming the auto tax system is just one thing to be considered in the long term... we don't have any plans to change it at this point," Huh Yong-seok, director general of the Finance Ministry's tax policy bureau, said in a weekly briefing.
Seoul and Washington held a fourth round of free trade talks last month on the former's southern resort island of Jeju.
Both sides were due to meet from Dec. 4-8 at a Montana ski resort in the U.S. for their fifth-round of negotiations, with a showdown looming on key issues such as automobiles, agriculture and trade regulations.
At the fourth round in October, the two sides made some progress in the talks but extended a deadline beyond this year and closer to the expiration of U.S. President George W. Bush's "fast-track" trade promotion authority.
Meanwhile, Huh said his ministry is not considering any additional tax measures to help stabilize housing prices.
The government is to unveil another set of anti-speculation measures next week at the earliest aimed at curbing excessive gains in housing prices.
Seoul, Nov. 9 (Yonhap News)
Seoul not mulling auto tax reform for FTA talks with U.S. |
