the south korean government has unveiled its planned tax code revision the very first since
president yun song young took office this year it's designed to help asia's fourth largest
economy overcome what the country's finance chief has been referring to as a complex crisis
by supporting businesses and people's livelihoods omg has the details
revitalizing the economy by promoting growth led by the private sector
that's the crux of south korea's latest revision to the tax
code published on thursday with the goal of improving corporate competitiveness
the tax revision has put an emphasis on drastically increasing support for companies to
expand their investment and employment first the taxation system will be reformed to meet global
standards lowering the top rate of corporate tax from the current 25 to 22 percent is one
of the main changes also the government will help smaller businesses by putting more companies into
the lowest corporate tax bracket also in the spotlight are changes in the real estate taxes
the government is looking to ease the property tax burden for people amid runaway home prices
in south korea people or companies with large real estate assets get an extra tax bill for holding
properties on top of the standard property tax for owners of two or more residential
properties the threshold before having to pay this extra tax will be raised from the current
600 million one to 900 million won which is roughly 700 000 u.s dollars
also for those who own just one home it'll be raised next year from the current
1.1 billion one to one point two billion one which is just over nine hundred thousand dollars
and just for this year it'll be temporarily raised to 1.4 billion won
the way of calculating property ownership tax will also change currently greater tax rates
are applied for owning more houses but under the change tax rates will depend on the house price
an expert says this can make property taxes better balanced currently a person who has three houses
worth a total of two billion won will pay more taxes than another person who just owns one
home or three billion one if we look at it in terms of money it is not equitable
another major goal of the tax code revision is to provide more financial stability for the public
amid soaring inflation the government will reduce the tax burden on those in low-income brackets
we will reduce the tax burden on people by expanding the range of the two lowest income tax
brackets but those earning more than 120 million one will see the amount they can deduct from their
income tax reduced she added that for workers more meal expenses will be exempt from tax the limit
for tax-free meals at work will be doubled to two hundred thousand one or roughly one hundred fifty
dollars a month the government is also looking to help industries recover from the pandemic
to help the movie industry recover the government is also making movie tickets tax deductible from
july next year those earning less than 53 000 u.s dollars a year can get 30 percent of
their spending at movie theaters deducted from their income tax bill with all these changes
the government says the tax code revision will result in a roughly 10 billion drop in tax revenue
but the finance minister says the reduction accounts for 3 percent of
total tax revenue which is within the usual five percent annual rise in tax revenue
the government is going to send the bill to the national assembly by september news