Presidential Office: "If the Democratic Party Had Amended the Law, 100,000 People Would Not Have Paid the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax"

- 1.2 Million Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Payers Reported: "Increase in Taxable Properties Due to Moon Government's Sharp Rise in Real Estate Prices"
- Presidential Office: "Number of Taxpayers Increasing but Individual Burden Will Decrease... Various Measures Under Discussion"

On the 16th, one day before President Yoon Seok-yeol's 100th day in office, the Presidential Office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul is shown. President Yoon, emphasizing the elimination of authoritarianism, moved the stage of state affairs from the former Blue House to Yongsan. With the president's office relocated to Yongsan, the Blue House has been fully opened to the public. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Presidential Office stated on the 8th, "The Democratic Party of Korea opposed the amendment to the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act, resulting in the failure of a plan that could have exempted about 100,000 people from paying the comprehensive real estate tax." Although the number of taxpayers subject to the housing portion of the comprehensive real estate tax is expected to increase by about 270,000 this year, the Presidential Office believes that the burden per person will decrease and expressed its intention to discuss various measures to ease the tax burden going forward.

Lee Jae-myung, Deputy Spokesperson of the Presidential Office, said during a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon that "the exact number of comprehensive real estate tax taxpayers will be finalized at the end of this month, but an increase in the number of taxpayers is expected," in response to reports that the number of taxpayers this year will sharply rise to 1.2 million.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economy and Finance anticipated at a tax law amendment forum that the number of taxpayers required to pay the housing portion of the comprehensive real estate tax this year would exceed 1 million and reach 1.2 million. The comprehensive real estate tax is predicted to reach 4 trillion won, a tenfold increase over five years.

In response, the Presidential Office explained, "An increase in the number of taxpayers subject to the comprehensive real estate tax is expected because, during the previous administration, housing prices surged sharply, causing apartment prices to rise by more than 17% compared to a year ago, which significantly increased the number of houses subject to the comprehensive real estate tax." It added, "The government has been discussing and implementing various measures to prevent a sharp increase in taxpayers due to the side effects of the previous administration's failed real estate policies. One alternative was to raise the taxation threshold for one household owning two houses from 1.1 billion won to 1.4 billion won, but this requires legislative amendment by the National Assembly. If the law had been amended, about 100,000 people might have been exempt from paying the comprehensive real estate tax, but the Democratic Party, which holds the majority, opposed it."

However, it added, "The government plans to continue discussing and implementing various measures to reduce the tax burden passed on to the public." A Presidential Office official added, "To ease the burden of the comprehensive real estate tax law, the government has lowered the fair market value ratio from 95% last year to 60%, and implemented various measures such as excluding temporary two-house owners and inherited houses from the housing count."

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