PPP Attacks Real Estate Tax Reform Plan, Calling It "Tax Extortion on Elderly Retirees"

The People Power Party continued its offensive against the government's real estate tax reform plan today (August 5).

In particular, lawmakers representing the Seoul metropolitan area highlighted that elderly citizens who have lived in a single home for a long time are now facing punitive taxes.

In a commentary released today, Chief Deputy Spokesperson Choi Su-jin harshly criticized the direction of the real estate tax reform plan, which includes strengthening taxation on ultra-high-priced homes and non-resident single-home owners, as well as abolishing the long-term holding special deduction, stating, "The foundation of South Korea's real estate tax system, which has been maintained for 39 years, has been shattered overnight."

Chief Deputy Spokesperson Choi emphasized, "They have punitively raised the maximum comprehensive real estate holding tax rate for non-resident single-home owners to 5 percent, the same as for multi-home owners, and even capped long-term holding deduction benefits at 1 billion won. This is explicit tax extortion that forces elderly retirees, who have trusted the national tax laws for decades and protected their single homes, to either pay taxes they cannot afford or sell their homes and leave immediately."

Lawmaker Na Kyung-won of Dongjak-gu B, Seoul, posted on Facebook today, criticizing, "They are mercilessly strangling people by hiking property taxes and blocking the exit route for capital gains taxes by cutting deduction benefits. Even if people try to pass their homes down to their children, a maximum gift tax of 50 percent stands in the way. This is a triple punishment that tramples on the people's right to housing."

Lawmaker Na stated, "The state is overnight stigmatizing elderly single-home owners, who worked diligently their entire lives and tightened their belts to buy a single home, as speculators and trying to drive them out. This is a state-led 'confiscation of property' and 'forced relocation order.'"

Lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo of Bundang-gap, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, argued, "In short, it tells people in their 60s and 70s in Gangnam, Seoul, who have no income after retirement, to quickly sell their houses, pack up, and leave for the outskirts," adding, "It is a politically motivated 'Goryeojang tax amendment bill' (refer referring to the traditional practice of abandoning elderly parents)."

He went on to sarcastically ask, "Are they trying to drive all the elderly out of Seoul and give those houses to someone else? Are they trying to supply them to this government's supporters who don't need loans to buy houses, receive hundreds of millions of won in performance bonuses, and can set up mortgages worth hundreds of millions?"

Lawmaker Bae Jun-young of Jung-gu, Ganghwa-gun, and Ongjin-gun, Incheon, also appeared on YTN Radio and remarked, "Even if a single house is expensive, there are many people whose income is modest, working as long-term care helpers or doing part-time jobs. It is a cruel policy."

Lawmaker Kim Eun-hye of Bundang-ul, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, stated today, "Due to the Lee Jae-myung administration's punitive tax reform, even citizens who have held a single home for a long time are at risk of shouldering a heavy tax burden," and proposed an amendment to the Income Tax Act allowing single-home owners to include property taxes and comprehensive real estate holding taxes paid during the holding period as necessary expenses when calculating capital gains tax for deductions.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.