2019 Property Tax Arrears Total 276.1 Billion KRW... Increase for 3 Consecutive Years

Assemblywoman Yang Kyung-sook: "Thorough Delinquency Management Needed to Prevent Honest Taxpayers from Feeling Deprived"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Last year, the amount of unpaid comprehensive real estate tax reached the 270 billion won level.

On the 23rd, Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, received data on the 'Status of Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Arrears' submitted by the National Tax Service, which showed that the amount of unpaid comprehensive real estate tax incurred last year was 276.1 billion won.

The amount of unpaid comprehensive real estate tax incurred in the relevant year decreased from 164.2 billion won in 2015 to 136 billion won in 2016, then increased for three consecutive years to 170.1 billion won in 2017, 242.2 billion won in 2018, and 276.1 billion won in 2019.

The delinquency rate, which refers to the amount of unpaid tax incurred in the relevant year compared to the total comprehensive real estate tax collection decision amount for the same year, was 9.5% last year.

The rates were around 10% annually, with 11.3% in 2015, 8.6% in 2016, 9.6% in 2017, 12.4% in 2018, and 9.5% in 2019. This is higher than the national tax delinquency rate of about 6-7% over the past five years.

Although the amount of unpaid comprehensive real estate tax incurred each year is on the rise, the amount collected from these arrears remains in the low 100 billion won range.

The amount collected from unpaid comprehensive real estate tax was 120.6 billion won in 2015, 14.1 billion won in 2016, 95.1 billion won in 2017, 116.1 billion won in 2018, and 129 billion won in 2019.

Representative Yang said, "The high delinquency rate of comprehensive real estate tax partly stems from the reality that multi-homeowners hold properties excessively for speculative purposes without sufficient financial capacity," adding, "The National Tax Service must thoroughly manage comprehensive real estate tax arrears to prevent speculative multi-homeowners' one-shot mentality from disturbing social order and to ensure that sincere taxpayers do not feel relatively deprived."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.