‘국민연금 폐지운동’ 서명자 10만명 돌파

Published : Jul 14, 2013 - 18:35 Updated : Jul 14, 2013 - 18:35

온라인상에서 국민연금폐지 서명운동 참가자가 10만 명에 육박했다.

납세자연맹은 토요일 보험료 부담이 늘어나는데 국민연금이 다른 공적연금에 비해 불공평한 부분이 많아 이를 반대하는 사람들이 급격하게 증가하고 있다고 밝혔다.

또한 정부가 국민연금 가입자들에게 제대로 된 보상을 하기 위해 개선해야할 것이 한 두 가지가 아니라고 말했다.

이와 같은 움직임은 국민행복연금위원회가 지난 주 회의에서 보험료가 종전 9%에서 13%까지 인상하는 방안을 추진하기로 결정하면서 시작됐다.

국민연금공단은 가입자들에게 보험료를 낸 액수보다 더 많은 보험금이 지급될 것이라고 확신한다고 수년간 홍보해왔지만 25년 후 현재 젊은층의 은퇴시기에 맞춰 보험료를 낸 만큼의 보상을 받을 수 있을지 의문이 제기되고 있다. 2038년에는 수령인구가 보험금 내는 인구를 넘어서기 때문이다.

우리 사회가 고령화되고 수명이 연장됨에 따라 이 제도가 개선되지 않으면 국민연금의 자금이 2060년에 고갈될 것으로 예상된다.

현재 국민연금가입자는 2,000만명에 이르며 이번 보험료 인상에 대해서 정부는 말을 아끼고있다.

납세자연맹은 직업연금에 비해 국민연금가입자들은 현저히 낮은 이익을 되돌려 받고 있다고 주장했다.

보험금 수령액이 수입의 40%인데 반해 공직자, 사립학교 교사, 군인사는 60%로 일반인보다 더 많은 이익을 가져갈 수 있다.

이보다 더 큰 문제는 직업연금이 현재 국가보조금에 의해 투자되고 있으며 올해만 3조원의 적자를 기록했다.

<관련 영문 기사>

Growing public outcry fazes state-run pension operator

The number of taxpayers signing up in an online campaign to abolish the state-run pension system is nearing 100,000, signaling a growing opposition against the mandatory program for all employers in the country.

The Alliance for Taxpayers Korea said on Saturday that the number of people who think the current pension scheme is unfair and disagree with a plan on raising subscribers’ contribution rate, is fast growing. The civic group claimed that the government should enact a dramatic reform to improve subscribers’ benefits. Otherwise, the government should abolish the current pension system and return all of subscribers’ investments with interest, they claimed.

The move came soon after an advisory panel on pension reform proposed a substantial increase in contributions to make the state-run program more sustainable.

A majority of the committee members last week reportedly favored a plan to gradually raise the contribution rate from the current 9 percent to 13-14 percent.

The National Pension Service is a mandatory public pension scheme to which all salaried workers in Korea contribute a portion of their monthly income to prepare for their post-retirement life.

The state-run operator has been promoting for years that the government would return subscribers more than their contribution. But after 25 years of its operation, questions have come up, particularly from younger groups, whether they could be rewarded a fair amount of pension by the time they retire -- when the number of pension contributors drops significantly and that of recipients skyrockets.

Due to the rapid aging of the population and extended lifespan, the fund, if its contribution and payout structure are left unrevised, is projected to run out by 2060.

The committee says it is necessary to increase contributions now, but the government has refrained from commenting on the highly-sensitive proposal. Currently, the NPS has more than 20 million subscribers.

The taxpayers’ alliance argues that subscribers to the national pension system get less benefit when compared to three other “special occupation” pension even now.

The pensions for government officials, private school teachers and military personnel offer unjustifiably generous benefits. The income replacement ratio of these pensions, for instance, exceeds 60 percent, while that of the NPS stands at a mere 40 percent.

The bigger problem is that the three special pension schemes are financed by heavy government subsidies. This year alone, the government will have to provide more than 3 trillion won in taxpayers’ money to cover their deficits.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)