S. Korea Policy Chief Proposes AI Tax Dividend

South Korea's presidential policy chief Kim Yongbeom proposed on May 12 distributing excess tax revenue from the artificial intelligence and semiconductor boom to citizens as a "national dividend," amid escalating labor tensions at Samsung Electronics that could lead to an 18-day strike.

In a Facebook post, Kim argued that gains from the AI infrastructure era stem from industrial foundations built by the nation over five decades. He suggested structurally returning a portion of those gains to all citizens to address concentrated benefits among memory companies, engineers and asset holders, while much of the middle class sees only indirect effects. "Excess profits in the AI era are, by nature, concentrated," Kim wrote.

The proposal emerged as Samsung's chip division union and management held government-mediated talks at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong. After 11 hours of negotiations on May 12 with no agreement, discussions continued into May 13. The union demands 15 percent of operating profits allocated to performance bonuses, removal of payout caps and a 7 percent base pay increase. Management has offered terms exceeding rival SK Hynix's 10 percent...