상속세 및 증여세의 완전포괄주의 도입방안에 관한 연구

Abstract

This report studies the law reform measures for prohibiting the transfer of

gigantic wealth from the super-riches to their offsprings without paying

inheritance or gift taxes. As declared by the Constitutional Court of Korea, the

inheritance tax, on top of its primary purpose of financing the government, aims

at ameliorating an eternal inheritance and concentration of wealth and enhancing

economic equality of the people, in furtherance of the constitutional ideal of

social market economy, which admits to an expansive control and regulation by

the government for the purpose of realizing social justice and economic

democracy. The inheritance tax so understood necessarily requires a

complementary system of gift tax. Without gift tax, inheritance tax can be easily

avoided by an inter vivos transfer. Given that the inheritance and gift taxation is

intended to tax the free transfer of wealth to the offsprings, the tax must apply

regardless of the private law formality of the transfer.

In reality, Korean law of inheritance and gift taxation has largely permitted

the rich to transfer their wealth without paying taxes. It thus became a

controversial social and political problem. A number of taxpayers, who have the

economic resources and political powers to take advantage of the loopholes of

the existing law, have transferred their wealth without paying taxes by means of

corporate transactions and other abusive measures.

This study clarifies the genesis of the legal loophole, and identifies the

necessary reform measures to close it. Chapter I of the work discusses the...