In general, the use of assets enables people to get involved in economic activities. Among other assets, in particular, the tangible assets like real estate properties have been one of the most attractive investment opportunities for people in Korea. ...
In general, the use of assets enables people to get involved in economic activities. Among other assets, in particular, the tangible assets like real estate properties have been one of the most attractive investment opportunities for people in Korea. Therefore, people have tended to own multiple dwellings or large amounts of land if any chances and this tendency fueled the spread of real estate speculation all across the nation. As those speculative demands for housing increased sharply in contrast with a decrease in construction industry, a rise in the price of housing got triggered by the imbalance of demand and supply.
In the midst of the prevailing speculation of the real estate market, in order to stabilize the cost of real estate the Roh Moo-hyun government persistently emphasized the principle of 'hard on holding tax and lenient on turnover tax'. By contrast, the Lee Myung-bak administration has started to take deregulation measures to revitalize the frozen real estate market and real estate transactions by the former Roh government's heavy regulations and hefty tax on housing.
Although there is a limit to the level of real estate price stability one government can achieve through tax reform, what is the most urgent and needed is a long-term and consistent policy that can recover people's faith in the government's policy.
The purpose of this study focuses on reviewing the current real estate tax system, which includes property tax and the comprehensive real estate tax law and proposing several plans to bring the betterment of the real estate property tax law.
The study consists of the 5 chapters. In chapter 1, which is an introductory chapter, a short introduction to the background, the purpose, the scope and the method of the study is given. Plus, in chapter 2, a theoretical approach to the meaning, the characteristics and the functions of current real estate tax system as well as the history from the period after liberation from Japan up to now are explored in details. Also, the constitutionality of the real estate law which recently raised heated disputes and the comparison of the tax system in Korea and other nations are reviewed, too. In chapter 3, the current situation of the real estate tax system and in chapter 4, the problems and the proposals to revamp the system are suggested respectively. In chapter 5, the proposals for improvement suggested in the previous chapter are summed up briefly.
Proposals for improvements of the real estate tax system suggested in the body of the study are as follows:
Firstly, regarding tax burden cap regulations, they have been adopted to curb the rapidly growing burden of people, however, they proved ineffective in dealing with the problems of tax assessments for newly built apartments. Due to such aspect, they can cause an adverse effect such as decreased the equity and transparency of taxation breeding distrust in the government's tax policies in the end. Therefore, they should be abolished in the first place. Instead, the current application rates of the fair market value should be lowered to decrease the tax burden.
Secondly, regarding tax payers, the tax law stipulates the actual owner on the basic day of taxation. Rather, it should prescribe the registered owner due to the difficulties in deciding who the lawful property owner is on the day in reality, admitting one exception with regard to real estate transfer. That is, when the registered owner reports the transfer of land or building even before any changes are made on a transfer register, however, the actual owner will be liable for taxation.
Thirdly, in relation to the basic date of taxation, it is better to meet the dates of the officially & individually announced public land price in order to get rid of absurdities of property taxes levied on a tax base made by the government's hands-on assessment standards. That is, the sum of property taxes should be assessed by the application rates or tax rates based on the officially & individually announced public price both of which are publicly posted annually not by the government's own assessment standards. Furthermore, as for the current base value(CBV) calculated by the cost method(CB), it is not an adequate method to reflect properly the fair market value(FMV). So it is necessary to establish only one principle of the CBV calculated by the fair market value(FMV). Accordingly, the principle should be applied to the buildings that are still calculated by the cost method.
Fourthly, under the current tax system, property tax is levied by cities and municipal districts in every July and September in contrast with the comprehensive tax levied on the level of the central government in every December. Apparently, the taxpayers must go through cumbersome procedures of taxation even when they own a single piece of land or house every year. Therefore, for the sake of taxpayers the comprehensive real estate tax should be merged with the property tax. On top of that, the comprehensive real estate tax should be reverted to the local tax, specifically, the metropolitan city tax.
Lastly, as for the future collecting method of the property tax that later should be merged with the comprehensive real estate tax, people should be allowed to pay taxes in installments rather than to pay in full at once to ease the heavy burden of taxation. What's more, the deductions of interest payments should be made for those who pays in full at once.
The real estate holding tax policies have been flip-flopped so many times by the changes in government and according to the political interests of the regimes so far. However, considering real estate property is not only a profitable investment opportunity but also an essential part of people's livelihoods, it is necessary to revise the tax system from the viewpoint of the original function of taxation by imposing corresponding rates for property's real estate value rather than from the issue of political need.