[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Sim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party, announced plans to amend the law to require members of the National Assembly and high-ranking public officials to sell residential properties held for purposes other than residence.
On the 13th, at the Executive Committee meeting, Leader Sim stated, "We will amend the Public Officials Ethics Act to mandate that members of the National Assembly, ministers and vice ministers, heads of metropolitan local governments, and superintendents of education at the provincial level or higher dispose of residential properties held for non-residential purposes within a certain period, thereby fundamentally blocking policy makers from influencing real estate policies."
He added, "Without gaining the trust of the public, the government and political circles cannot take a single step toward dismantling the 'Real Estate Republic'." He also mentioned plans to soon announce the Justice Party's comprehensive real estate measures.
Leader Sim said, "We view positively the acceptance of the Justice Party's repeated calls for increasing the comprehensive real estate tax (종부세) rates on multi-homeowners," but argued that "there are still many limitations."
He pointed out that the comprehensive real estate tax on land was not strengthened. Leader Sim said, "It is very regrettable that taxation on land, which accounts for 80% of 종부세 revenue, was not strengthened. We cannot help but ask whether this means continuing to allow large corporations' real estate speculation."
During the Lee Myung-bak administration, the 종부세 rate on land was significantly lowered, resulting in corporate-owned land increasing by 80% over ten years from 2007 to 2017, reaching an area 1,000 times that of Pangyo and 3,200 times that of Yeouido.
Leader Sim emphasized, "The Justice Party will go beyond temporary speculation suppression and uphold the public concept of land and the principle of housing as a public good to address the worsening asset inequality."
He named the initiative the 'Real Estate Justice Act' and said, "To prevent large corporations from sprawling real estate expansion, we will significantly strengthen the land portion tax rate of the 종부세." He also revealed plans to clarify the current 종부세 classification, which distinguishes between 'two or fewer houses' and 'three or more houses and two houses in regulated areas,' into 'one house' and 'two or more houses.' He added that exceptional provisions would be introduced to protect unavoidable two-homeowners, such as for elderly parent care, children's schooling, and job transfers.
Leader Sim also stated, "To completely abolish privileges for rental business operators, we will delete various toxic provisions such as tax reduction clauses and housing aggregation exclusion clauses found in the 종부세 Act, Restriction of Special Taxation Act, and Local Tax Special Cases Act."
Additionally, he said measures including supply plans for genuine demanders and low-income citizens would be prepared.
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