Do you pay taxes on ticket prices for box office hits? Irresponsible coupon abuse and populism

Do you pay taxes on ticket prices for box office hits? Irresponsible coupon abuse, populism

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Yulip = People Power Party lawmaker Cho Eun-hee said on the 4th that the government announced the 2027 budget plan to increase the budget for the 'Youth Culture and Arts Pass' by 22 times, saying, "Isn't it a 'subsidy for box office hits' that pays the ticket price of already well-selling box office hits with taxpayers' money?" and called for a reexamination.

Rep. Cho, the opposition secretary of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said at a floor plan meeting on this day, "If you look at next year's budget, it's almost confusing whether it's the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or the Ministry of Culture and Coupons."

According to Rep. Cho, the government increased the budget for the 2027 Youth Culture and Arts Pass by 22 times from 36.1 billion won this year to 792.5 billion won. The target of support will also be expanded 33 times from the current 280,000 people aged 19 to 20 to 9.19 million people aged 19 to 34.

The once-in-a-lifetime support has changed to allow applications to be made every year, and its uses have expanded from performances, exhibitions, movies, and books to sports activities.

According to data Representative Cho received from the Korea Arts Council, movies accounted for 80% and concerts accounted for 9.6% of the 387,811 uses of the Youth Culture and Arts Pass in the first half of this year. About 9 out of 10 were used for movies and concerts.

Rep. Cho pointed out, "At this level, it is not the level of expanding existing projects, but in fact creating a new 'culture and sports coupon for all youth'." He added, "The government is bringing upon itself criticism that it is a generous coupon targeting young voters ahead of next year's general election and populism for the general election."

He added, “We will thoroughly investigate the irresponsible use of coupon-based budget allocation during the National Assembly’s budget review process.”