One Day Before the Plenary Session, Tug-of-War Over 'Comprehensive Real Estate Tax'... Ruling Party: "500,000 People Harmed" vs Opposition: "Benefits for Multi-Homeowners"

The Democratic Party Proposes Adjusting the Fair Market Value Ratio to 80% Next Year

The corridor in front of the National Assembly's main building Budget and Accounts Committee on the 20th shows a desolate scene as the National Assembly remains at a standstill for 50 days due to the breakdown of negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties over the organization of the Assembly. The National Assembly postponed the organization and only agreed on the schedule for the negotiation group leaders' speeches and government questioning. On the morning of the 20th, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, Park Hong-geun, delivered the negotiation group leaders' speech at the plenary session held that day. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The ruling and opposition parties are still unable to narrow their differences regarding the Special Act on Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax (종합부동산세, Jonghap Budongsanse). On the morning of the 31st, a day before the plenary session scheduled for the 1st of next month, the party floor managers held discussions to find a compromise but failed to reach an agreement.

Ryu Seong-geol, the ruling party floor manager of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee and a member of the People Power Party, said after leaving the committee chairman's office, "Since no agreement was reached, the morning meeting will not be held."

Earlier, Ryu’s side had informed committee members to be on standby as the full Planning and Finance Committee meeting could be convened at 10 a.m. that day. Although the bill was supposed to go through the Tax Subcommittee, due to the failure to appoint a subcommittee chair, the plan was to directly submit it to the full committee for processing. However, the meeting itself was canceled.

Ryu said, "To put it simply, tens of thousands of people who were not subject to the comprehensive real estate tax last year are now included as taxpayers," adding, "The Democratic Party also said last time that the burden was too heavy and that they would ease it, but they have not done so."

The Democratic Party’s position is to first process uncontested issues such as temporary one-household two-housing owners and payment deferrals for the elderly, and to separately discuss the controversial parts.

In response, Ryu explained, "This cannot be resolved by addressing only some parts; one-household two-housing owners and temporary two-housing owners are all connected," adding, "Also, after consulting with the National Tax Service Commissioner and officials, there is no time left."

He said, "There are nearly 500,000 people at most, and all of them are watching this," and added, "The Democratic Party is holding a subgroup discussion at their workshop in the afternoon, and I requested that they contact me afterward."

However, the Democratic Party holds the position that the special comprehensive real estate tax, which benefits many multi-homeowners, cannot be passed because the fair market value ratio has been set too low.

Shin Dong-geun, the opposition floor manager of the Planning and Finance Committee and a member of the Democratic Party, said in a phone interview that day, "It is problematic to reduce the fair market value ratio by as much as 40%," adding, "We called the head of the tax office at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, but they said administratively it is too complicated."

Shin revealed that the People Power Party proposed, "We will set the fair market value ratio at 80% next year; how about that?" but the Democratic Party rejected it, saying, "Next year is next year; we should discuss it then."

He continued, "We said let's first do what can be done quickly and then try to find a compromise or justification for the rest."

If no agreement is reached between the ruling and opposition parties by the afternoon, it is expected that the processing of the comprehensive real estate tax-related bill will be difficult even at the plenary session the following day.

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