Are people with high-value properties paying enough taxes compared to people with low-priced properties? However, most people think that people with outdated commercial buildings pay more in taxes.
Among the subject of property tax, for housing, the p...
Are people with high-value properties paying enough taxes compared to people with low-priced properties? However, most people think that people with outdated commercial buildings pay more in taxes.
Among the subject of property tax, for housing, the published price reflecting the market price is used by integrating the building and annexed land. On the other hand, commercial real estate does not properly reflect the market price as it is, following a dual taxation system based on the cost method by separating buildings and annexed land. The calculation of the property tax base of a commercial building is calculated by multiplying the official land price of an individual building by the area, and for a building, the building construction price is calculated based on the structurure index, usage index, and location index of the building, the residual price ratio by elapsed years, and special additions and subtractions, etc. It is far from the market price. Therefore, even within the same area, inequity has been continuously raised in between the central area and the surrounding areas. In this background, I would like to investigate the fairness of taxation of commercial real estate.
In this study, the vertical equity of commercial real estate was analyzed by selecting one district with the largest population for each of the six metropolitan cities, excluding Seoul, in Korea. The subjects of this study were commercial buildings used for commercial and business purposes, not for residential use. Until now, most of the data of other studies had not been able to obtain actual taxation data, so the standard market price was estimated by the legisters of buildings, etc. However, the data of this study was 38,672 local tax data that were sold and subjected for property tax during two years, 2019 and 2020, through information disclosure requests (25 items including acquisition price) to the relevant office of districts.
In the empirical part of this study, the realization rate of the standard market price was selected as a variable to explain the equity of the standard market price. The realization rate of the standard market price means the value obtained by dividing the land value (approved land price × area) and the value of the building (standard market price) by the acquisition tax declared value.
Then, I analyzed the factors, which effect to the realization rate, among structure index, usage index, building floor, location index, and declared value per land area.
As a result, it was concluded that, first, as the declared value per land area increased, the realization rate of the standard market price decreased. Statistically significant results were obtained in the 6 major metropolitan cities in both of collective and non-collective buildings. In other words, the owners of high-priced commercial buildings in the central area pay less property tax than those in surrounding areas, which means that it is not fair. Second, it was found that the higher the structure index, the higher the realization rate, but the effect of the usage index was unclear. Lastly, compared to the first floor, a positive (+) relationship to the realization rate was found in both of ‘the second or higher floors’ and ‘basement floors’ compared to the first floor.
The policy alternatives that were suggested through this study are as follows. First, a price disclosure system should be introduced in commercial real estate just like housing. Second, it is necessary to adjust the location index in the short term. Third, it is necessary to adjust the rate of addition and subtraction among special cases in the short term.