the tax increase is a hard political sell, especially in an election season.

but today’s korea has no other choices but to take the difficult path. politicians need to be more honest and try to persuade voters with sincerity. this is why we regret the ruling saenuri party’s reluctance to increase taxes more boldly, especially for the wealthiest 10 percent or so of people. its tax reform plan unveiled a few months ago increases revenue by just 2 trillion won, a fraction of the 80 trillion won in lost revenue incurred by the lee myung-bak administration’s tax cuts for large corporations and wealthy individuals during the past five years.