Democratic Party Demands 2020 Tax Base in Closed Party-Government Meeting

On the 23rd, This Year's Official Apartment Prices Announced... The Ruling Party Requests Government to Ease Tax Base to 2 Years Ago Level Before Announcement
Property Tax and Health Insurance Fees to Return to 2020 Levels

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Democratic Party of Korea has requested the government to ease the tax base criteria for various taxes calculated based on the publicly announced prices of apartment complexes, aligning them with the 2020 levels, two years ago, in relation to the final announcement of the 2022 public housing prices scheduled for the 23rd. As disagreements over real estate tax relief have emerged, progress on legislative amendments before the June 1 local elections may slow down, leading to an interpretation that the party is focusing on lowering the publicly announced prices through immediate enforcement ordinance revisions.

Yoon Ho-jung, the emergency committee chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the 22nd, Kim Seong-hwan, the chairman of the Policy Committee, stated at the morning floor countermeasure meeting, "The 2022 public housing prices will be announced tomorrow. Even if the prices rise somewhat, we will closely cooperate with the government to ensure that owners of one household and one house are assessed based on the 2020 tax base criteria without discrimination, so that the burden of property taxes and other real estate holding taxes does not increase." He promised, "We will also promptly improve real estate-related legislation, such as the capital gains tax amendment, to meet public expectations." This is interpreted as an acknowledgment that one of the reasons for the presidential election defeat was real estate policy, and an intention not to repeat the same mistake in the local elections.

The previous evening, first-term Democratic Party lawmakers also identified real estate issues as a cause of the presidential election defeat during their first workshop after the election. They explained that although the housing supply rate exceeded 100%, the party neglected supply measures, overlooking the fact that with the increase in single-person households, the effective housing supply rate was actually below 70%. Accordingly, there is a consensus on the need to revise real estate measures ahead of the June local elections.

On the same day, after the meeting, floor spokesperson Cho Oh-seop told reporters, "There was a closed party-government consultation yesterday morning," adding, "The publicly announced land prices will be announced tomorrow in line with the realization of the official land prices, and regarding this, we requested the government to set the tax base according to the 2020 standards." He emphasized, "If this happens, property taxes and health insurance premiums will be based on the 2020 criteria, significantly reducing the tax burden on the public."

Currently, the government is pursuing a plan to revert the tax base criteria to last year's level, but the Democratic Party is pushing further to revert it to the level from two years ago.

Spokesperson Cho explained, "The Democratic Party's position is based on the 2020 criteria," and added, "Within this week, we will create a proposal with the members and secretaries of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Strategy and Finance Committee, as well as Democratic Party lawmakers, and proceed with a process of gathering opinions."

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