文정부 보유세 인상...종부세 위상 10년 만에 되찾나<br /><br /> The wait is over.<br />A comprehensive tax reform for real estate is unveiled by the Moon administration.<br />It centers around taxing rich property owners harder.<br />Here's Choi Si-young with the details. <br /><br /> The South Korean government is raising taxes on wealthy homeowners... to reduce income disparities and even out tax imbalances.<br />The Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Friday announced its plan to increase the main real estate holding tax by a tenth of a percentage point to half a percent... for properties worth 530-thousand U.S. dollars or more.<br />The maximum tax rate for homes will be raised from the current two percent to two-point-five percent.<br />And for people who have three houses or more,... there'll be a an extra third of a percentage point tacked on to that.<br /><br /> The government is also changing how it assesses a property's fair market value.<br />Currently a home's value, as assessed by the government,... is multiplied by 80 percent... to calculate "fair market value," which is then the basis for calculating tax.<br />This was originally done to help ease the burden on homeowners.<br /> But the 80-percent rate will be raised by 5 percent a year until 2020,... bringing it to 90 percent... to better reflect real values. <br /><br /> The tax hike will affect around 340-thousand people, raising extra revenue worth 700-million U.S. dollars a year.<br />The government plans to use the extra money to give financial assistance to newlyweds and the underprivileged.<br />Choi Si-young, Arirang News. <br />
