Farmland Preservation Tax System was established in 1972 based on 'Farmland Preservation Law', and has been revised a few times since then. This law is unique to Korea, and is intended for ① restraining of farmland conversion, ② maintaining of the total areas of farmland by creating new farmlands, and ③ scaling up the agricultural management size, by the means of imposing taxes partially to pay for the creation of farmlands and also to collect a part of the profits stemming from the development of converted farmlands.
Farmland Preservation Tax is inherently 'Due imposed on the causer‘ but it has also the characteristics of 'Due imposed on beneficiary'. This is basically dual-taxes in that two different taxes are being imposed on a single act of a farmland conversion. That is, Farmland Preservation Tax is imposed as a tax due on the initiator, and Development Tax is imposed as a tax on the beneficiary.
In improving the Farmland Preservation Tax relief act, the relief clauses should be simplified and consolidated as with the relief act on the Development Tax. In principle, the relief would be 100% only when a farmland conversion is for the public purpose of a local government, and 50% for other cases. Firstly, the principle would be based on the tax relief principles used for 'Alternative Forest Resources Creation Fund'. It means that the relief clauses would be classified into three cases: ① When a conversion is for national or local government's public purpose, ② When a conversion is for establishing a main industrial facility, and ③ other cases. As in the Development Tax, 100% relief would apply only when a conversion is for national or local government's public purpose, and 50% would apply in other cases, in principle.
Secondly, any farmland conversion within the area designated for agriculture promotion would be excluded from the tax relief. Thirdly, the tax relief for the industrial purposes and other cases should be overhauled extensively. In principle, tax reliefs on public facilities and the farm-dedicated lands that have been reported are justifiable, but tax reliefs on industrial facilities are different cases because the relief is on the private beneficiaries.
And remedial measures are needed related to the intentional removal of the status of Farmland Preservation Area solely for a purpose of tax relief. There are cases of such intentional removal for the tax relief purpose, and a tax based on the original status ought to be imposed even when such a removal has been enacted.
Tax collection rate is low with the Farmland Preservation Tax, and so surcharge should be introduced for overdue taxes. Through the measure late payments would be reduced and the total collected amount would increase. Based on the principles of the Farmland Preservation Tax Relief, cases of time-limited relief should be sorted out. In order to update the statistics related to agricultural administration in a timely manner, the system should be streamlined in such a way that Korea Rural Community & Agriculture Corporation is in charge of the related statistics related the conversions.
Researchers: Tae-Gon Kim, Soo-Suk Kim, Yoon-Jin Heo and Joo-Nyung Heo
Research period: 2007. 9. - 2008. 2.
E-mail: taegon@krei.re.kr