The first tax reform plan of Lee Jae-myung's government includes strengthening the criteria for major shareholders for imposing capital gains tax on stock transfers, and 6 out of 10 people evaluated that it would have a negative impact on the stock market.
Realmeter announced the results of a public opinion survey on this matter on the 6th. The percentage of respondents who believe that the tax reform plan, which strengthens the criteria for major shareholders from 5 billion won to 1 billion won per stock, would have a 'negative impact' on the domestic stock market was recorded at 62.5%. The opinion stating it would have a 'positive impact' accounted for only 27.4%.
There was a predominance of negative evaluations regarding the strengthening of the major shareholder criteria across all age groups. In particular, the negative evaluation surpassed 70% among individuals in their 20s (71.1%) and 30s (70%). When narrowing down the respondents to those with stock investment experience and significant interest, the negative evaluation rate reached 73%.
Amid criticism that various detailed requirements for tax assessment that separates dividend income from total income fall short of market expectations, 50.3% of respondents believed it would 'not help' increase corporations' dividend payouts. Only 37% of respondents answered that it would 'help.'
Moreover, 57.9% agreed with the point that this tax reform plan is different from the message and direction proclaimed by President Lee Jae-myung, which aims for a 'KOSPI 5000 era,' and that it is insufficient to attract real estate investment funds to the capital market. The percentage of respondents who disagreed was 35.2%.
This survey was conducted the previous day among 502 men and women aged 18 and older nationwide. It utilized a random digit dialing (RDD) method using a 100% randomly generated sampling frame, and the overall response rate was 3.2%. The margin of error is ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.