Han Byung-do: "Tax Reform Revisions Reflect the Public's Voice"

[Financial News] Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, argued on the 3rd that the government's revised real estate tax reform plan "reflects the public's voice."
Speaking at a policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea that day, Han said, "The revised tax reform plan is a reasonable outcome reached after listening to the views of the public and the market and engaging in deliberations between the government and the ruling party."
Earlier, at a State Council of South Korea meeting on the 1st, the government finalized a revised tax reform plan. It withdrew its initial proposal to reduce the basic deduction for the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax for non-resident single-home owners to 900 million won and decided to retain the current 1.2 billion won. The plan to raise the basic deduction for single-home owners who actually reside in their homes from 1.2 billion won to 1.4 billion won remained unchanged. The government also withdrew its initial plan to raise the cap on the tax burden to 200% and decided to retain the current 150% limit.
The reform plan for Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) was also revised. The government withdrew its proposal to prevent unused annual contribution limits for general ISAs from being carried over to the following year, retaining the current system. It also removed the maximum contract-period limit and the sunset deadline. In addition, it allowed people to hold both a Youth Productive Finance ISA and Youth Future Savings account.
Han assessed the changes, saying, "A reasonable plan has been prepared that maintains the benefit of raising the basic deduction for single-home owners who actually reside in their homes from 1.2 billion won to 1.4 billion won, while retaining the current 1.2 billion won deduction for non-resident single-home owners." He added, "The asset-building functions for young people, ordinary citizens and individual investors have also been strengthened."
The Democratic Party of Korea plans to make additional revisions during the regular session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea to address provisions not reflected in the government's revised plan. In particular, the government has agreed to hold further discussions and prepare improvements during the parliamentary review process regarding anti-stock-price suppression measures designed to prevent major shareholders from having an incentive to artificially lower stock prices during the inheritance or gifting of shares.
Han said, "We will also develop effective anti-stock-price suppression measures during the regular session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, even though they were not included in the revised tax plan." He added, "By listening closely to the public's voice, we will improve the quality of the budget and tax systems and handle them responsibly through thorough review within the statutory deadline."
[email protected] Song Ji-won Reporter