This study examines the current state and history of real estate taxes for Korea, Japan and U.S. and provides suggestions to improve Korean schemes. For the first part of the study, it examines the current state and history of capital gains tax of rea...
This study examines the current state and history of real estate taxes for Korea, Japan and U.S. and provides suggestions to improve Korean schemes. For the first part of the study, it examines the current state and history of capital gains tax of real estate for Korea, Japan and U.S. The capital gains are legitimately included in the comprehensive income base since they represent additions to net worth. However, their measurement is not without problems. For one thing, individuals may not realize their capital gains in the same period in which they accrue. The capital gains accrue as the value of asset rises but these gains are only realized when the assets are converted into money through selling them. For many types of asset such as real estate, including accrued capital gains in the income base would involve valuing each individual’s holdings of asset periodically since market value may not be established. Capital gains are normally included as income only when realized. This causes many problems for long-term gains for more than a year: the bunching of long-term gains, the opportunities for timing the realization of gains and losses, and the lock-in effect of the tax on capital gains. Each country has treated these problems differently. This study suggests that capital gains should be included in the taxable income as the ordinary income(i. e., labor income, business income and investment income) in Korea. While capital gains on short-term assets shall be taxed at regular income tax rates, capital gains on long-term assets shall be taxed at the rates lower than regular income tax rates. In addition, this study provides suggestion that home sellers can claim exclusion of capital gains tax only if home meets the condition of owner-occupied housing irrespective of the numbers of owning houses. For the second part of the study, it examines the current state and history of tax on holding of real estate taxes for Korea, Japan and U.S. The property tax of real estate has been used mainly by local government because the local governments are better able to coordinate taxpayer with the benefits of public service financed by the tax in U.S. In mid-20th century, Japan and Korea introduced U.S. type local property tax of real property on benefit principle. However, in addition to local property tax, Japan and Korea adopted national property tax(Land Price Tax in Japan, Comprehensive Real Property Tax in Korea) to overcome the problem of sharp price rises of real estate. This study suggests that discrimination against the multi-home owner should be eliminated to determine the eligibility of Comprehensive Real Property Tax in Korea. Also, this study suggests that Korea should adopt a circuit breaker of property tax and special assessment used in U.S.