부동산 양도소득세제도 개선방안에 관한 연구 = A Study on the Reformed Real Estate Transfer Income Tax System

국문 초록 (Abstract)

영문초록: In Korea, the real estate transfer income tax system is designed to check real estate speculations rather than increase the financial revenues. Namely, when the real estate speculations spread, the transfer income tax was levied more, and when the economy was recessed, its rates or criteria were lowered. Thus, the transfer income tax system has been used to suppress the speculations or control the economic conditions. In short, the transfer income tax system has played the double roles of social policies and financial revenue tools. However, various unreasonable factors impeding efficient and fair taxation have intervened in adjustment of the tax references. However in order to realize the socio-economic justice, the tax system should focus on fair distribution of wealth and income, and therefore, it is necessary to estimate the transfer incomes in an objective and fair way. To this end, the introduction part of this study presents purposes and methods of study, and then, the main discussion part analyzes conditions of the transfer income tax system, addresses its problems and suggests the following reform measures in reference to the foreign cases. First, since the current method of estimating the transfer income violates the principle of fair and effective taxation, nobody will oppose the taxation based on market prices than reference ones. However, different estimations depending on whether the seller is individual or corporation or whether the real estate is located in speculative area or not must violates the principle of fair and effective taxation, it is deemed desirable to apply the market prices to every real estate transactions. In this context, the government plan to rewrite the law to apply the market prices to every transaction sounds reasonable. Second, the current reductions or exemptions of the transfer income tax including exemption for those owning a single house are abused as tax evasions. So, such reductions and exemptions should be abolished to simplify the transfer income tax system and realize the fair taxation. However, if they should be abolished all at once, tax payers would feel a financial burden much, while those having their own houses would resist to the transfer tax system. Third, although the special deduction system for the real estates owned long may relieve the owners of tax burden, it has the effect of freezing the real estate transactions, impeding the smooth real estate transactions. So, it should be abolished, too. However, it is deemed realistic to deduce the inflated prices from taxation. Namely, it is desirable to introduce the 'Inflation Indexation Allowances' for the real estates owned long or apply the tax reference to the price with certain amount deducted for long ownership or apply a lower rate of transfer income tax to such real estates. Fourth, due to the vague concept of speculative transactions, relevant legal provisions may be analogized or interpreted broadly. The result will be a high risk of infringing on tax payers' property rights. Then, the tax code will not be able to play the function of defending tax payers' rights. So, it is necessary to specify the concept of speculation to make clear its legal and taxation conditions, not allowing for any analogy or expanded interpretation. Fifth, the current additional taxation of corporate income tax on the transfer income from land transaction is the source of the unfair tax burden because it depends on whether the tax payer is individual or corporation. Namely, the horizontal fair taxation is impeded. So, it is necessary to rewrite the relevant code so that any capital gain of corporation can be taxed according to the Income Tax Code or other new code