주요 OECD 국가의 상속 · 증여세부담에 관한 비교분석

The purpose of this study is to estimate the income elasticity (buoyancy) of tax revenue in 11 major OECD countries, including Korea, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, using the annual data ranging from 1990 to 2019 in the macroscopic viewpoint and then to analyze the burden of inheritance and gift taxes through an empirical approach and explore implications. In the empirical analysis, the income elasticity (buoyancy) of tax revenue was estimated without considering any effect of tax law revision. By comparing and analyzing the analysis results among major OECD countries, the policy implications of the inheritance and gift tax burden were explored. As for the elasticity (buoyancy) of inheritance and gift tax to GDP, the results of the empirical analysis found that the higher GDP led to the higher inheritance and gift tax revenue in nine countries except for Italy and Norway. The results of the analysis following the removal of auto-correlation were shown to be comparable to those of the analysis prior to the removal of auto-correlation in most countries except Italy, Japan, and Norway. The relevant policies in most developed countries are being directed towards easing the burden of inheritance and gift taxes, which has been established as an international trend. However, Korea is still going in the opposite direction. Korea also needs to reduce the inheritance tax rate to 25%, the OECD average. In addition, it is considered necessary to introduce the capital gains tax and switch the inheritance taxation method from estate tax to inheritance tax, for the purpose of a smooth succession to a family occupation. Furthermore, now is the time to increase the gift tax exemption limit.