The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy has recently rekindled the debate over whether to raise the country’s corporate tax rate. NPAD floor leader Lee Jong-kul said last week taxation reforms, including corporate tax increases, would be the shortest cut to reviving people’s livelihoods.

His remark was seen as signaling the liberal opposition party would renew efforts to push for a corporate tax hike. The NPAD has suggested raising the maximum rate levied on corporate profits to 25 percent from the current 22 percent.

In an apparent response to Lee’s remark, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said Saturday that it would make little sense for Korea to become alone among major economies in increasing corporate tax.

True, most countries have continued to reduce levies on companies while increasing other taxes to finance expanded fiscal spending in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The United Kingdom, for instance, slashed the corporate tax rate from 28 percent to 20 percent this year after raising value added tax from 17.5 percent to 20 percent in 2011.

But a country does not necessarily have to follow the global trend in setting its tax policy.

The discontent is growing among working-class Koreans that the country’s taxation system has increased the burden on them while letting large profitable companies hoard huge amounts of cash on the back of low corporate tax rates.

Given the country’s ballooning household debts and slumping consumer spending, there seems to be little room to raise income tax rates. Taxes collected from wage earners have continued to increase in recent years, while corporate tax revenues decreased from 45.9 trillion won ($41.5 billion) in 2012 to 42.7 trillion won last year.

Under these conditions, the idea of raising corporate tax rates may no longer be unthinkable. As many experts note, the tax hike may have an adverse effect on corporate investment. But as big businesses pile up hundreds of trillions of won in cash reserves, a modest tax increase might not significantly affect their investment plans. The public perception is also growing that a corporate tax increase cannot be excluded from the task of setting up a framework for sustainable welfare expenditure.

Given these conditions, the argument may be basically right that there is a need to consider whether and how to collect more taxes from companies.

With recent forecasts on the country’s economic growth for this year taking a more pessimistic tone, however, it does not seem proper to focus on discussing a corporate tax hike now.

The Korea Development Institute, a state-run think tank, last week revised down its 2015 growth projection for Asia’s fourth-largest economy to 3 percent from the 3.5 percent estimated in December. The measure came after the International Monetary Fund and the National Assembly Budget Office lowered their forecasts for Korea’s economic growth to 3.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, earlier this month.

For now, it is important to avoid weakening or complicating efforts to reinvigorate the economy.

The main opposition should first cooperate in passing bills designed to help facilitate structural reforms and create more jobs. This would eventually add weight to their calls for changes to the taxation system.