Gov't to ease property-related tax burden on owners of one home

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki speaks during a meeting on the housing policy, March 23. Yonhap

The governments said Wednesday it plans to ease the tax burden on owners of a single home amid skyrocketing housing prices.

The measure ― which is set to be announced at 11 a.m. ― are meant to prevent the owners of one home from additionally shouldering the burden of paying real estate-related taxes.

The government plans to let the owners of one home pay similar amounts of property-holding taxes to those of last year on a temporary basis, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said at a meeting on housing policy.

One-home owners aged 60 and older will also be allowed to postpone the payment of the so-called comprehensive real estate tax, Hong added.

Public discontent over the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate policies has mounted as skyrocketing home prices drove up the tax burden on homeowners and raised costs for people seeking to rent or buy homes.

The latest measure comes as the country's state-assessed price value for homes has sharply increased in tandem with rising housing prices.

In Korea, the government taxes land and homes based on an annual assessment value instead of the actual market value.

The average government-assessed housing prices rose 19.08 percent across the nation last year, the sharpest year-on-year gain in 14 years. The government plans to raise state-evaluated prices for all types of real estate, including apartments and land, to up to 90 percent of their market prices in the next 10 to 15 years.

During the election campaigning, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol promised to ease the comprehensive real estate tax for owners of one home and overhaul other property-related taxes. (Yonhap)