Gwangyeok Local Government Heads from the Opposition Party: "Publicly Announced Property Prices Lack Credibility... Should Be Frozen"

<기사제목>O Se-hoon, Park Young-jun, Kwon Young-jin, Lee Cheol-woo, and Won Hee-ryong Hold Press Conference and Urge Government

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Five metropolitan government heads affiliated with the People Power Party raised objections to the government's method of calculating publicly announced property prices on the 18th and demanded a freeze.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong held a press conference at Seoul City Hall on the same day, issued a joint petition, and proposed improvements to the real estate public price system to President Moon Jae-in.

They urged the government to promptly provide local government heads with the "Apartment Price Survey and Calculation Report" based on Article 46 of the Enforcement Decree of the Real Estate Price Public Announcement Act. They also demanded an immediate investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection. They stated, "Many publicly announced prices with unclear principles and standards, resulting in low reliability, have been identified," and requested, "Please allow local government heads to know the specific calculation basis."

Furthermore, they called for freezing the 2021 publicly announced prices at last year's levels. They explained, "This is to alleviate the tax burden on citizens facing difficulties due to COVID-19," and emphasized, "In particular, please take measures to prevent victims by conducting a thorough analysis of welfare recipients affected by the rise in publicly announced prices."

They also demanded that the authority to decide apartment public prices be transferred to local governments to prevent the determination of prices disconnected from the field.

Before the press conference, Mayor Oh said at a meeting, "The number of objections to this year's publicly announced prices is about 40,000, more than 30 times higher than four years ago," adding, "This shows how widespread distrust of the government-calculated public prices is."

He further stated, "The sharp rise in publicly announced prices not only drastically increases the tax burden on citizens but also affects 63 areas of citizens' lives, including the basic pension," and stressed, "We urge the government to make active efforts to reduce the tax burden on citizens. At the same time, legislative and institutional improvements are urgently needed to allow local governments to have authority and participate."

Governor Won also criticized, "It is unfair to recklessly treat citizens' property and impose punitive taxes in a chaotic manner," and said, "This is a shortcut that violates the constitutional principle of taxation law, which mandates that taxes can only be levied by law."

Mayor Park expressed concern, saying, "If this situation is left unattended, it may further depress the economy already weakened by COVID-19," and emphasized, "Considering the pressure on people's livelihoods caused by various utility fee increases, a comprehensive policy readjustment by the government is necessary."