[Editorial] 'Public Opinion' on Real Estate Misrepresented

You worry that real estate policy is again going to be thwarted by the politicians. Even some in the ruling Uri Party are talking nonsense. They say the policy needs to be "supplemented," but what they're really talking about is backtracking. The mood at the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has changed as well, since it was July when it called for persons owning two homes to be taxed "at levels that would be like punishment." GNP chairwoman Park Geun Hye now says, "the property tax has to be raised so as to keep the people's overall tax burden from growing too much," evidence that there will be serious opposition to the proposed policy. It's frustrating because it looks like the attacks of certain conservative newspapers are having an effect when they talk about a "tax bomb" looming over the country.

The measures the government wants to take on the "comprehensive real estate tax" and the transfer tax for persons owning two or more homes would affect only 2 to 3 percent of all households. How can you say it would be like a "tax bomb" on the middle class and the common people? Also, there would be no change in property taxes on homes under W600 million, which would be 98 percent of homes nationwide. The views and property rights of the minority must of course be respected. However, this is a different situation. Is this not a policy designed to heal the pain of the majority of the people, who suffer because a small minority treat homes and the country's limited land - both the basis of stable housing - as something to be monopolized, something for speculative investment? If anyone is fearful of taxes he can sell his surplus land and stop assuming he can make money through speculation. Such is what's expected from the proposed policy. Even if some in the middle class are affected that would only be the case in extreme exceptions, and yet conservative newspapers talk as if people would always be the case.

The top 2 to 3 percent of the population has absolute influence over the conservative media in Korean society, and the politicians need to see how when certain media speak for them the talk as if they represent the views of the general public. Many citizens wonder if some of the National Assembly's wealthy politicians are trying to take advantage of that misquoted public opinion in order to avoid heavier tax burdens.

The Hankyoreh, 26 August 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]