The Democratic Party and the government formed a consensus today (August 23) on expanding the scope for recognizing actual residence for "single-home non-residents" regarding the real estate tax reform proposals.

During a briefing on the results of the high-level party-government consultative meeting held at the National Assembly, Democratic Party Senior Spokesperson Park Sung-joon stated, "A consensus has been formed between the party and the government on various opinions raised, including expanding the recognition of residence for those who are non-resident due to unavoidable circumstances."

Regarding the reform of the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax, he conveyed, "The Democratic Party strongly requested that no distinction be made between residents and non-residents for single-home owners."

In addition, to facilitate prompt housing supply, the party and the government decided to push for transferring the approval and licensing authority for redevelopment and reconstruction projects of housing complexes with 500 units or fewer to local district heads.

Senior Spokesperson Park said, "Synthesizing the requests from district heads in Seoul, we will improve the system to grant authority to local district heads for redevelopment and reconstruction projects involving 500 units or fewer," and added, "We will pursue relevant legislation in the National Assembly."

They also agreed to continue active discussions on easing regulations for private-sector redevelopment and reconstruction.

Meanwhile, ahead of the regular National Assembly session in September, the party and the government decided to formulate legislative strategies for the prompt processing of livelihood, reform, and national task bills.

Senior Spokesperson Park emphasized, "In connection with the regular National Assembly and budget review schedules, we plan to concentrate our legislative capacity so that livelihood and reform-related bills can be processed within the year as much as possible."

(Photo: Yonhap News)