‘자본시장 선진화’와 동떨어진 ‘주가 누르기 방지법’

On August 3rd, the '2026 Tax Reform Bill' was released. A significant portion of interest among shareholders in the stock market concerned the proposed 'stock price suppression prevention law', which aimed to reform the assessment method for listed shares. However, the details of the proposal fell short of explicitly stating the goal of 'preventing stock price suppression'.

The background of the current inheritance tax reform debate lies in the overarching policy objective of advancing the capital market, which has been pursued through measures such as the amendment of corporate governance statutes, the establishment of a corporate value enhancement plan, the mandatory disclosure of sustainability information, and the prohibition of redundant listings.

Each change has been geared towards ensuring that listed companies consider the interests of all shareholders in decision-making processes and to transparently disclose crucial information for investment assessment. The debate on inheritance tax reform started with a similar aim. Under the current inheritance tax law, inheritance tax is levied based on the average stock price over the two months prior to and after the inheritance date.

Listless shareholders are therefore incentivized to prefer a stock price increase, inadvertently causing companies' stock prices to trade at levels lower than their actual asset value. While it may seem natural for a listed company to have a portion of its shares held by ordinary shareholders, this practice can negatively impact the interests of ordinary shareholders.

As such, during the initial stages of the inheritance tax reform debate, companies with a market value below 80% of their net asset value were subjected to an assessment based on the company's asset value and earnings value, with a minimum threshold set at 80% of the net asset value, excluding the right to purchase the shares at a premium held by the largest shareholder.

This was intended to prevent companies' values from being artificially depressed. However, the recently released reform bill has expanded the criteria to include companies whose net asset value ranks in the bottom 12 of 13 recent quarters, as well as companies that engaged in questionable capital market activities such as secondary stock issuance and exchange recapitalization in the past year, resulting in a stock price decline of over 30% compared to the recent average price.

In such cases, the bill proposes extending the assessment period and imposing a minimum 30% inheritance tax, assuming the possibility of 'anticipatory stock price suppression'. This approach could be beneficial for growth-oriented companies, as well as those suffering from prolonged undervaluation, even if it means a higher inheritance tax.

However, the primary objective of this reform is not aligned with advancing the capital market, raising concerns about the direction of the tax policy and the potential consequences on market stability.