By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter

The number of people subject to the property tax levied on real estate riches dropped by half from last year, following tax code revisions and falling real estate prices.

The National Tax Service (NTS) said Wednesday that it sent tax notices to 210,000 people who are subject to the comprehensive real estate taxes.

The tax was introduced during former President Roh Moo-hyun's administration to curb real estate prices. Currently, those who own houses worth 600 million won or over, or land worth 500 million won or more are subject to the tax. In case of those who own only one house, he or she is subject to the tax if the house is worth 900 million won or over.

Among the 210,000 taxpayers this year, 160,000 are paying the tax for their house while 60,000 are landlords.

It is down 49 percent from the previous year. The number of taxpayers fell as the tax code was revised to ease tax burdens on owners of real estate. Before the revision, for example, those who had only one home were subject to the tax if the value of the house exceeded 600 million won, just like multiple homeowners.

The revision also cut the tax rate to between 0.5 and 2 percent from between 1 to 3 percent.

The falling real estate prices also relieved taxpayers of this burden.

The official government-assessed prices of apartments around the country fell by 4.6 percent on average this year amid global financial crisis. The bubble burst notably in residential areas with high-priced apartments.

In Gangnam District and Songpa District in southern Seoul, for example, apartment prices dropped by nearly 15 percent, while Yongin and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province, where the new town Bundang is located, saw a fall in apartment prices of around 20 percent.

All of these areas were among "bubble seven," or the residential area with bubbles in prices designated by the previous administration.

The tax collection will also decrease. The comprehensive real estate taxes levied on those properties totaled 1 trillion won this year, down 56 percent from the previous year. Those who received the tax notice are obliged to pay the tax by Dec. 15.

chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr