Seocho-gu "Doing Our Best to Refund Property Taxes to Residents Who Won Supreme Court Case"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seocho-gu (Mayor Cho Eun-hee) announced a statement on the 12th expressing regret that, despite enacting an ordinance on October 23 to reduce property tax by 50%, it is unable to immediately refund property tax to residents due to Seoul City's Supreme Court lawsuit and injunction request.

Seocho-gu stated on the day, "We will actively engage in the Supreme Court litigation and do our best to restore local autonomy rights damaged by Seoul City."

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Seocho-gu's Position on Seoul City's Supreme Court Lawsuit and Injunction Request

Seocho-gu is attempting various support policies to help economically struggling residents amid the unprecedented COVID-19 disaster. In particular, seeing residents who have worked hard to own a single home in their lifetime shaken in their basic livelihood by soaring property taxes, the district could not ignore their suffering and sought to return part of the property tax to the residents, who are the rightful owners of the tax.

Accordingly, based on Article 111, Paragraph 3 of the Local Tax Act, Seocho-gu promulgated an ordinance on October 23 to reduce property tax by 50% for residents owning one house with a publicly announced price of 900 million KRW or less. However, regrettably, Seoul City filed a nullification lawsuit against the Seocho-gu ordinance at the Supreme Court on October 30 and requested an injunction.

We sincerely apologize for not being able to refund property tax to residents immediately due to Seoul City's injunction request. Although we cannot refund the property tax at this time because of Seoul City's lawsuit, we will do our utmost to win the case at the Supreme Court and refund the property tax to residents.

Seocho-gu's amended ordinance was established within the scope of the local government head's authority stipulated in the Local Tax Act, following lawful procedures and reasonable standards amid the COVID-19 disaster. However, Seoul City's unprecedented action of filing a Supreme Court lawsuit and injunction request against a district ordinance is an act of Seoul City, which should lead local autonomy, infringing and denying local autonomy rights itself.

Therefore, Seocho-gu will clarify the legality of its ordinance during the Supreme Court litigation, ensure victory, restore the local autonomy rights damaged by Seoul City, and take the lead so that residents of other local governments can receive the same support starting with Seocho-gu.

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