Democratic Party's Seol Hoon: "Comprehensive Real Estate Tax and Capital Gains Tax Remain... 96% of Citizens Unaffected by Comprehensive Real Estate Tax"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] 설훈 (Seol Hoon), a five-term senior member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated that the comprehensive real estate holding tax (종합부동산세, 종부세) and capital gains tax will not change.

On the 21st, Seol appeared on YTN Radio's "Hwang Bo-seon's Start of a New Morning" and said, "The comprehensive real estate holding tax will continue as is (without adjusting the scope of subjects)," adding, "In fact, only 3.7% of people are subject to the comprehensive real estate holding tax. 96% of the population has nothing to do with it."

He continued, "The comprehensive real estate holding tax for a single homeowner owning an apartment worth 1.3 billion KRW is only about 40,000 KRW," and said, "Of course, those with significant assets will have to pay more, but the vast majority of citizens have nothing to do with the comprehensive real estate holding tax. I think people need to understand this."

Seol also said, "The increased rate on capital gains tax will never change. If we concede on the capital gains tax issue, it could send a signal that 'government policies are nothing, we just need to hold out,' so the capital gains tax will remain unchanged."

It is likely that the property tax relief for single homeowners will be adjusted. Seol said, "The final decision will be made at the party meeting, but the real estate special committee suggested raising the property tax relief threshold for single homeowners from the current 600 million KRW to 900 million KRW."

He added, "Apartment prices in Seoul have risen significantly. The average sale price has exceeded 1.1 billion KRW, so raising the threshold to 900 million KRW would correspond to about 1.3 billion KRW in market value," and said, "The tax burden on single homeowners who are actual users is too high. Therefore, raising the property tax relief threshold from 600 million to 900 million KRW would eliminate tax resistance among citizens and be a reasonable condition. This is the tentative decision."

Seol said, "Since the decision must be made at the party meeting, property tax relief will probably be set at 900 million KRW or below, but the real estate policy is not wavering. Various opinions are coming out because the decision-making process is ongoing."

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