Sim Sang-jung: "Easing the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Means Succumbing to Speculative Forces"

On the 27th, a press conference for the legislative petition on the enactment of the Land Excess Profit Tax Act to recover real estate speculation profits is being held at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Sim Sang-jung, chairperson of the Real Estate Speculation Republic Dismantling Special Committee of the Justice Party, is speaking. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Sim Sang-jung, a lawmaker of the Justice Party, told Song Young-gil, the newly appointed leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, "Do not implement real estate policies that simply address complaints." She strongly criticized the trend of easing the comprehensive real estate holding tax (종부세) as "succumbing to speculative forces."

On the 4th, Sim appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and said regarding Song's real estate measures, "You need to conduct responsible reviews that consider the future of the community, not just solutions that handle complaints."

She added, "With the Song Young-gil administration in place, what should be the top priority principle in solving real estate issues? I believe first, second, and third, it must be to control the crazy housing prices. Stabilizing housing prices downward."

Concerns were raised that easing the 종부세 or loan regulations "may largely reflect the complaints of homeowners." Sim likened the 종부세 to "a market mechanism to stabilize real estate prices" and emphasized, "In a situation where housing prices are skyrocketing like now, stronger automatic stabilization measures are needed. Removing them entirely would be disastrous. The reason bubbles are bubbles is because they eventually burst."

She continued, "If the 종부세 is eased, the government is only saying it is at war with speculative forces, but in reality, it is surrendering to them."

As a necessary policy, Sim emphasized the need to introduce the land excess income tax, which she recently proposed. She explained, "If the land excess income tax is introduced, it will be possible to tax all land speculation. It imposes heavy taxes on land held beyond what individuals and companies need. By imposing heavy taxes and encouraging the sale of such land, the law aims to promote efficient use of land by the community where it is more needed."