Real Estate Tax Policy In China: Can Property Tax Cool Down The Overheated Market?

Macro control measures for real estate have been the focus recently in China, as the government has launched series of measures to pull down the soaring property prices and maintain the stability of the real estate market, such as taxation and limitation of housing mortgage. As previous taxation measures shows little impact on the control of housing prices, the State Taxation Administration has considered the collection of property tax which is under preparation as a powerful instrument to suppress speculation. Whether property tax is adequate for China has been a controversial topic due to different views of the reason of the rising housing prices. This study aims to investigate the current real estate tax policy in China, which deals with stamp duty, contract tax and so on. To examine the existing problems in the real estate taxation system in China, theories about taxation, supply and demand are incorporated into the analysis of the relationship between housing prices and current tax policy. Also, whether real estate sector and economic environment in China is ready for the property tax is another question in the study. Although there is a long history for property tax in other capitalist countries with private ownership, property tax in countries with public ownership may exhibit different track. Furthermore, this study tries to address the causes of the existing reasons and explore solutions to making the current tax policy more efficient in the perspective of property tax.