The Korean government is implementing various policies to minimize the negative impacts of a wider market opening in agriculture, fishery and forestry, and to increase competitiveness of Korean products. They include supporting systems such as government funding, financing, tax reduction and the tax exemption. The supporting systems in the forestry sector, however, have been criticized for their insufficiency of quantitative aspect to boost up the competitiveness of forestry managers and entities. This research is designed to conduct a comparative analysis of the support policies and the tax systems between the agricultural and fishery sectors and the forestry sector to draw the improvement plans of the policies and the systems.

For this study, we surveyed beneficiaries who are the forestry managers such as forest managers, forest successors and mountain-cultivated ginseng growers on the subject of the support programs, the policies and the problems and demands for the improvement of tax system. The comparative analysis of the Agriculture and Forestry Work Plan was also done including local government support programs and related support programs from other governmental bodies. In addition, this study finds how to improve tax systems based on the tax related Acts including the Special Tax Treatment Control Act, the Special Local Tax Treatment Control Act and other related Acts.

Firstly, the analysis of the beneficiary survey and the Work Plan in the support policies shows that the amount for entities in the forestry industries is 24 percent of total budget of the forestry sector. This number is lower than the agricultural sector. Other results show that the ratio of the loan support project is low, the ratio of self-pay is high, and the support programs for the seed industry, machinery and tax-free fuel are not good enough to satisfy the forestry managers and entities compared to the numbers in agricultural and fishery sectors. To improve these concerns, this study suggests the reform of the support projects and ways, which includes increasing loan support projects and aids for entities, lowering the interest rate of 3 percent for the loan, decreasing the self-pay rate, and extending supports for seed industries including mountain-cultivated ginseng and tree fruits. The results also require the reform of ways to support distribution system including differential treatments based on the performance evaluation of the Forestry Products Processing Center. The increase of a portion of necessary machineries and tax-free fuel for non-timber products cultivation, and the relaxation of qualification for the professional forestry managers and the customized management support are also suggested. Furthermore, for the successful implementation of the support projects, the study suggests unifying terminology in the Work Plan, easing the qualification for machinery support for non-timber products cultivators, encouraging farm manager registration, and enhancing the cooperative role of the forestry cooperative as the institutional challenges. For the more effective support program, it proposes implementing the forest manager registration scheme.

Concerning the forestry tax system, the results of the survey suggest various tax reforms such as demands for increasing a percentage of a transfer income tax relief for forest land or with self-cultivating farmland level in case of concession to the state, a gift tax relief for forest land managed for more than 20 years regardless of land size, an additional exemption of inheritance tax for forest successors’ and sincere forest managers’ forest land managed for more than 20 years old, an acquisition tax exemption or more reduction for forest successors and sincere forest managers. With careful study of the related Acts including the Special Tax Treatment Control Act and the Special Local Tax Treatment Control Act, the alternatives are suggested as follows.

The targets of inheritance tax and the gift tax reliefs extend to semi-conservation forests as well as conservation forests if management plans of the forests are approved. For the gift tax relief of forestry managed for more than 20 years, forest managers can establish a corporation of forest management to have tax benefit of the family business inheritance. The increase in the income tax relief level can be applied temporarily to the approved forests with the management plans. Furthermore, for the more improvement in the forestry tax system, this study suggests improving the Korean standard industrial classification, and clarifying definitions of legal terms regarding forestry and forestry managers.


Researchers: Lee, Sang-Min, Kim, Soo-Suk, Song, Seong-Hwan, Bark, Ji-Eun and Kim, Jung-Tak
Research period: 2013. 6.∼2013. 11.
E-mail address: smlee@krei.re.kr