법인세 개혁논의의 최근 동향과 우리나라 법인세 정책에 대한 시사점 = A Review of Recent Corporation Tax Reform Proposals and Implications for the Korean Tax Policy

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this paper, we reviewed major discussions on the reform of corporation tax since the 1970s to find out some useful lessons for corporation tax reform in Korea. The reform proposals we surveyed include Cash Flow Corporation Tax, ACE, CBIT, DIT and Destination-based Cash Flow Tax. We also discussed the phenomenon of com- petitive cuts in corporation tax rates among OECD countries since the mid-1980s. If we have to choose one among the reviewed proposals, ACE seems to be the first candidate because of its neutrality, fewer transition problems and conformity to the traditional corporation income tax. We, however, think that adoption of the system is not very urgent, because it is not a well fit prescription for our economic problems. We rather suggest that the share of the corporation tax in total revenue be reduced gradually by downward adjustment of the statutory tax rate.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

1970년대 이래의 법인세 개혁에 관한 중요한 논의들을 개관하고 개혁의 대안으로 제안된 여러 가지 방안들을 분석적으로 검토하였다. 법인세를 지대에 대한 조세로 바꾸는 Cash Flow 법인세와 ACE 제도, 법인과 개인단계에 부과되는 모든 자본소득세를 단일 세율로 중복 없이 과세하겠다는 CBIT와 DIT 그리고 1980년대부터 가속화되기 시작한 각국 간의 법인세율 인하경쟁 문제 등에 대해서 살펴보았다.
만일 이러한 개혁대안 중 하나를 채택해야 한다면 지대조세이면서 이행과정에서 나타날 수 있는 문제가 상대적으로 적으며 채택한 사례들이 비교적 많이 있는 ACE 제도가 가장 유력하다고 볼 수 있다. 그러나 이 제도가 우리나라에 당장 필요한 기업의 유치나 세원유출의 방지 등에는 큰 도움이 된다고 보기 어렵고 아직도 채택한 경험이 있는 국가가 많지 않다는 점 등 때문에 서두를 필요는 없다고 판단된다.
더 중요하고 시급한 것은 법인세율을 경쟁적인 수준으로 조정하는 것이다. 이것은 기업의 유치를 통해 일자리를 늘리고 근로자들의 임금수준을 향상시키며 성장률을 높여서 전반적인 세수를 높이는 결과를 초래한다. 분배개선과 세수확보 양면에서 매우 긍정적인 효과를 기대할 수 있다는 것이다.

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