"Floating Profit Tax" crashes the Korean stock market? The Korean National Assembly discusses including unrealized stock and real estate gains in comprehensive taxation

BlockBeats News, June 23, according to Yonhap News Agency, this morning, members of the National Assembly from multiple parties—including the Democratic Party, Progressive Party, and Social Democratic Party—jointly attended a tax reform forum. The core proposal of the forum is to promote a transition to "comprehensive income tax"—regardless of whether assets are sold, substantial net asset appreciation will be used as the tax base, and unrealized gains from investment assets such as stocks and real estate will also be subject to taxation.

According to Bitget market data, the Korean stock index plunged 9.99% today, triggering a circuit breaker on the KOSPI, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix leading the decline.

The core topic of this Korean tax forum is to transform the current income-based taxation system into a comprehensive framework based on economic capacity—that is, regardless of the form or realization of assets, actual increases in net assets serve as the basis for taxation. Lee Sang-min, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Public Finance, pointed out that if taxation only occurs upon the realization of assets, taxpayers will be motivated to hold off on selling in order to avoid or defer taxes, creating a "lock-in effect" and hindering the flow of capital to more efficient areas. The forum also proposed a more gradual implementation path: in principle, unrealized gains would be recognized as income, but tax obligations could be deferred until realization or paid later with interest; for real estate and unlisted stocks whose market value is difficult to assess, the current taxation upon realization can be retained, or a pilot could begin with high-net-worth asset holders only.