Gangneung-si Promotes 'Entertainment Bar Property Tax Surcharge Reduction'

Policy to Apply General Tax Rates for Property Taxes in July and September

Gangneung City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] Gangneung City is promoting property tax reduction benefits for entertainment bars struggling due to gathering bans and business hour restrictions imposed for COVID-19 prevention.

According to the city on the 7th, a reduction plan has been prepared to apply the general tax rate instead of the heavy tax rate when imposing property tax on high-end entertainment establishments such as entertainment bars. The city plans to apply the general tax rate to the property tax in July and September after obtaining the city council's consent within this month.

Under current law, the property tax rate for general commercial buildings is 0.25%, and the tax rate for the associated land is 0.2~0.4%. However, about 100 entertainment bar buildings that meet certain conditions are subject to heavy taxation, with a rate of 4%, which is higher than the general property tax rate.

Due to this property tax rate application, entertainment facility owners have been expressing concerns about the burden of paying property tax at the heavy tax rate and economic difficulties, as business prohibitions or restrictions have continued since last year due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, on the 20th of last month, the National Assembly plenary session passed a partial amendment to the Local Tax Special Act, which includes business prohibition measures due to infectious disease outbreaks as an exception to the prohibition of local tax reductions, thereby establishing a legal basis for reducing heavy taxation on entertainment bars.

Meanwhile, the city is promoting tax benefits such as automobile tax reductions for business vehicles, resident tax reductions for industries subject to gathering bans, and property tax reductions for benevolent landlords who have reduced rent for more than three months, as support for small business owners struggling due to COVID-19, following the resolution of tax reductions at the recent city council extraordinary session.

Lee Won-geun, head of the Taxation Division, said, "We plan to proceed with related procedures such as obtaining council consent to convert the heavy tax on buildings and land to the general tax." He added, "If the consent proposal is approved, many entertainment bars and building and land owners are expected to receive tax benefits."

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