Setback to anti-speculation plan

Rival parties should get blame for legislation deadlock

The Moon Jae-in administration's efforts against real estate speculation are likely to suffer a setback because the National Assembly has yet to approve a government-initiated bill aimed at raising a property tax on owners of multiple homes or expensive properties. Both the ruling and opposition parties should be held accountable for the legislation deadlock.

The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) is opposing the plan, and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DKP) is not showing strong political will, either. It is worrisome that their reluctance may give a wrong signal to the housing market.

The tax increase plan, announced on Dec. 16, was the central pillar of the Moon administration's policy to curb property speculation and stabilize housing prices. The package calls for hiking the property tax rate by 0.1-0.8 percentage points this year for people who have two or more homes as well as expensive homes in Seoul and other speculation-prone areas.

The revision bill, however, has failed to pass even the Economic and Finance Committee at the National Assembly. on the surface, the ongoing impasse is due to the opposition party's refusal. Still, it is doubtful whether the governing party has real intentions to raise the tax rate.

The rival parties have neither discussed the issue, nor agreed on the schedule for reopening the committee, making few efforts to narrow their differences over the issue. Overlapping this deadlock is the DPK pledge to ease the property tax burden during the campaigning period for the April 15 general election, to win votes in Seoul's posh southern districts.

If the plan goes up in smoke eventually, both political parties will hardly be free from blame. If the current Assembly fails to deal with the revision bill this month, the bill will be automatically scrapped, and the next Assembly should start from the ground up. Lawmakers cannot avoid criticism for making empty promises and reneging on them for political reasons. Their failure on the tax bill will add one more example to the 20th Assembly's tainted reputation of neglecting its legislation duties.