Functions of taxation are basically divided into two categories. First, it is established in order to run a country and second, it is performed in pursuit of achieving both social and financial purposes.
In the past, it was the first function (the o...
Functions of taxation are basically divided into two categories. First, it is established in order to run a country and second, it is performed in pursuit of achieving both social and financial purposes.
In the past, it was the first function (the one with the state coffers) which was considered to be primary. And yet, as the economy develops and the society gets more complicated, the other function (which is related to politics) is being emphasizing more than before.
Earlier, Korea has gone through a speedy rising of real estate price due to the abnormal speculative demands in the property market. The sharp rise of house prices and the polarization of house-holding have come to the fore as a social issue which caused 'the rich-get-richer and the-poor-get-poorer'. Feeling concern about such phenomenon, the government has reorganized the transfer tax income policy for several times in order to control the speculative demands in the property market and to stabilize the price as well.
However, unfortunately, the results of the reorganizations have created a new transfer tax income policy which is complicatedly mixed with the basic characteristic of taxation and the political purpose of controlling the speculative demands. Meanwhile, house-owners became suffering the overcharged transfer tax income which eventually led to the downturn in trade in the housing market. This is being pointed out to be one of the reasons for the stagnation in the real estate business.
In order to put any validity to the transfer income tax overcharging policy which the government has implemented to control the land speculation, it is necessary for the government to clarify how the raise in the transfer income tax is effective to curb the speculative demands. Besides, as long as the government does not successfully prove that how its new policy stabilizes the house prices, the effectiveness of the policy will not be trusted. However, there hardly found either theories or empirical studies that showed how the transfer income tax influenced the house prices and the economy of the housing market.
The reason for the lack of the relevant studies is considered that since there are so many economic factors which affect the house prices and the real estate transaction, it is generally impossible to figure out causes of market participants' behaviors. In the end, it is hard to even collect fundamental data to analyze conditions and changes of the property market.
Taking the facts mentioned the above into consideration, the study focused to prove the effectiveness of rising the transfer income tax by the government which is expected to prevent the land speculation and to stabilize the house price. In other words, while examining the problems of the transfer income tax overcharging policy, the study worked on how the rise of the transfer income tax influences the property market. The results of the research indicated that the present transfer income tax policy is not reliable enough to expect positive impacts and it is even causing a lot of side-effects. In order to solve the problems, a new tax policy which reflects the following items is required.
First, it needs to lower the heavy tax rate by law. In addition, when it comes to decide on a multi-family house owner it is necessary to convert the 'aggregation principle for each house' to the 'aggregation principle for each married couple'. In order to gain calculability of taxpayers, it is believed that the new tax policy should be adopted only after the enforcement date. If it does not seem reasonable, it is recommended for the government to have sufficient period of preparation before implementing the new tax policy.
Regarding the aspect of the system, it needs to establish a comprehensive house tax system which organically connects the property tax, the comprehensive real estate holding tax, the income tax, and the transfer income tax all together. In company with this, it is also necessary to expand housing so that the supply price elasticity in the housing market is raised.