참여정부 부동산조세정책에 관한 연구 : 개인주택 양도소득세 중심으로

참여정부의 부동산 조세정책을 주택 양도소득세 중심으로 분석했다.

Over last 5 years, our Participatory Government has positively intervened in domestic real estate market, whether firsthand or secondhand, through a lot of real estate policies. Out of them, taxation policies related to real estate have been discussed primarily in the purport of stabilizing housing price and revitalizing domestic economy. In particular, most of policies for control over real estate speculation have taken approaches to taxational aspects. Here, both comprehensive real estate tax and transfer income tax, which all belong to national tax, have been used as major policy means.

The primary goal of real estate taxation system is to perform national policies of stabilizing real estate price and controlling real estate speculations, apart from its financial goal to satisfy governmental financial demands. But in the course of policy implementation, our realty taxation authority has been excessively devoted to achieving desired policy goals, so that inherent real estate taxation system or relevant logic of practices has been considerably distorted. As a result, there are a series of controversies about balance and efficiency of taxation.

In order to establish rational taxation system for real estate, it is foremost required to build up a taxation system focusing on balance and efficiency of taxation. Particularly, it is urgently demanded to abolish current transfer income tax exemption policies including transfer income tax exemption system for one house per household, which are intractable issues of Korean taxation policies and may be abused for tax exemption and speculation due to irrationality of transfer income tax.

However, as a part of policy goals to stabilize housing market for the populace, it will be necessary to prepare a new taxation bill through introducing transfer income deduction system(nationwide average housing pricing system) in substitution for current tax exemption system of transfer income tax for one house per household. As adjacent land price around the Seoul-Busan Expressway established in 1968 jumped up, our government enacted “the Special Measure Act for Control over Real Estate Speculation” in order to contain real estate speculations and facilitate stabilizing land price.

Afterwards, our government has taken approaches to real estate market control policies in the aspect of reinforcing and relaxing real estate tax, and our governmental measures to control real estate speculations also have undergone a cycle of processes to reinforce and relax taxation system depending on trends of real estate market. Current double taxation policy for real estate has been promoted as a part of real estate market stabilization policies under the control of Participatory Government.

But recent trends of real estate market conditions demonstrate that this policy would not be effective as policy means in stabilizing real estate pricing on a long-term basis, although it worked effectively on a short-term basis. The functions of real estate taxation system as a part of real estate policies have certain limitations in fundamental policy resolution of issues around real estate. So the real estate taxation system on policy level is just a means of comprehensive real estate measures, and thus requires application involving further review and coordination in associations with other policy means.

Therefore, it will be necessary to abolish, complement or rearrange current irrational taxation system. The problems of current irrational real estate transfer income taxation system can be outlined as follows: First, in regard to issues on object of taxation, our transfer income tax has been limited to very narrow range of real property as object of taxation, so that it has great challenges in fully absorbing capital gain into tax revenues.

Second, in regard to issues on tax exemption and reduction system, the functions of our transfer income tax have been compromised due to excessively loose and extensive range of preferential treatment for tax exemption and reduction, which hinders neutrality and fairness of taxation and aggravates complexity of taxation system, so that tax revenues are operated more inefficiently. This may lead to potential serious problems. Third, in regard to structural issues on tax rate, it is pointed out that excessively high imposition of realty-related tax on housing induces lock -in effects and less housing supply, and rather adds to unstable housing and high residential demands in the populace.

Finally, in regard to special exemption system for long-term real estate ownership, it is found that current taxation system imposes tax to accrued transfer income without allowing for factors such as balance between short- and long-term real estate owners, inflation or the duration of real estate ownership, so that it may expose a problem of taxation on nominal income as a bunching of income. Hence, this study can suggest the following possible ways to improve these problems: First, extend the range of real property subject to transfer income tax. Second, abolish or reduce tax exemption system. Third, reduce or adjust transfer income tax rate.

Finally, improve special exemption system for long-term real estate ownership.