On August 23, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that it has been piloting housing inspection, housing pension, and housing insurance systems in 22 cities, a move that some experts believe will increase the cost of owning properties and essentially serve as a covert way for the authorities to levy property taxes.
Deputy Minister Dong Jianguo of the CCP’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development stated on August 23 at a press conference organized by the State Council Information Office that they are researching the establishment of housing inspection, housing pension, and housing insurance systems. Currently, cities like Shanghai are carrying out pilot programs. When homeowners purchase property, they already have individual accounts for paying residential special maintenance funds, and the focus of the pilot programs is for the government to establish public accounts.
Following the release of this information, it immediately sparked widespread attention and discussion, trending on Baidu’s hot searches list on August 24.
Financial commentator Wang Jian, who has thirty years of experience as a financial journalist, stated in his self-media program on August 23 that the introduction of the housing inspection, housing pension, and housing insurance systems by the authorities will increase the burden on property owners, essentially dividing property taxes into three parts. As the real estate market in China continues to slump, implementing property taxes now would exacerbate the downward trend in the real estate market. However, with local CCP finances already tight and land fiscal policies zeroed out, land sales revenue constitutes 30% of local fiscal revenue.
Regarding the impact of this policy on the real estate market, Wang Jian believes that initially, the general public may not fully grasp the implications, but over time, they will realize that the cost of owning property is rising without a corresponding increase in income. Many people may choose to sell their properties, leading to a significant drop in housing prices. The consequences of the CCP implementing this policy could be severe.
Following the release of this news, netizens engaged in extensive discussions, mostly expressing opposition to the policy.
Netizen “Han Daoyou” remarked, “Call it a property tax if it’s a property tax, calling it a pension fund for housing, you guys can come up with anything.”
“Worker Andy” asked, “Are we going to start contributing to social security and housing provident funds for houses now?”
“kkk” commented, “By unifying the collection of property management fees, community public revenue, parking fees under the government, collecting all kinds of money, and then retroactively investigating property management fees and income of residents’ committees from the past ten years, by paying back taxes and fines, it would cover at least one year’s financial expenditure for each city and state. Believe it or not.”
Netizen “Kawaii” said, “With so many people unemployed now, why are they messing around with this and that, how far do they want to squeeze the common people?”
“Has role but no acting” opined, “Is this a form of robbery? Where did the extra money go after being forced to pay 15,000 for a 100-square-meter maintenance fund on the stock exchange? In this manner, what’s the point of talking about second or third children? Perhaps because of certain factors (such as annual housing pension funds, etc.), the house that was hard-earned may no longer be one’s own! If this expert successfully recommends and implements this, it is estimated that many people will have to put down the law and pick up weapons.”
A Tencent netizen expressed: This is an excuse for the authorities to “take money.”