농어촌특별세 기한 만료에 따른 농식품재정분야의 전략적 대응방안

Abstract

UR 협상으로 본격화된 농산물시장 개방에 따른 농업·농촌의 효과적 대응을 위해 농업의 경쟁력 제고와 농업인의 복리 증진이 뒷받침되어야 한다는 국민적 합의에 근거하여, 1994년에 목적세 성격의 조세인 농어촌특별세가 도입되었다. 이 조세는 2004년까지 10년간 한시적으로 운영하기로 계획되었다. 그러나 한·칠레 FTA 체결을 시작으로 지속적인 시장개방의 가능성이 제기되었고, 그에 따른 추가적 농림투융자 재원 확보의 필요성이 제기됨에 따라 추가 10년을 연장하여 2014년 6월 30일 운영기간 만료 예정이었다.

본 연구는 농어촌특별세의 기간 만료를 앞둔 시점에서 도입 이후 지금까지 운영되어 온 농어촌특별세의 세입 및 세출 구조와 운영실태 등을 분석하고, 향후 농업·농촌 여건변화에 비추어 현실적으로 농어촌특별세가 존치되어야 할 필요성, 농식품재정의 효율성 및 성과 제고를 위해 필요한 정책적 제안 사항을 연구추진 과정에서 제시하였다. 그 결과, 조세정책의 총괄부처인 기획재정부는 2014년 조세정책 개편방안에서 농어촌특별세의 추가 10년 연장계획을 발표함으로써 본 연구 수행의 1차 목적을 달성하였다.

농어촌특별세의 추가연장 필요성에 대한 논리 제시와 함께 농어촌특별세 세입원의 안정적 확보를 위한 세입구조 개편과 추가 세원 발굴, 목적세로서 역할 제고를 위한 사업 추진방향, 농식품 투융자의 성과 제고를 위한 방안 등 정책과제를 발굴하여 제시하였다.

Special Tax for Rural Development (STRD) is a special-purpose tax that was introduced to achieve three goals: reduce damages from agricultural market liberalization, strengthen competitiveness of the agriculture and fisheries sector, and improve the welfare of farmers and fishermen. After the conclusion of Uruguay Round negotiations, government set up the first-phase 42 trillion-won investment plan. For developing the plan, it is necessary to secure an additional fund to improve rural competitiveness. As a result, STRD was introduced in July 1994. In addition, the Korea-Chile FTA in 2003 made the government to secure an additional fund to prepare complementary measures. Accordingly, the plan was extended to June 2014. This paper overviews the limitation of STRD as a special-purpose tax, then finds the way to mitigate the volatility of STRD revenues. We also suggest several ways to improve the expenditure scheme of STRD pointing out the coordination problem. In chapter 2, the result shows that STRD revenue is very helpful to carry out many agricultural policies successfully. It reveals that procurement of tax revenue made it possible to effectively implement major agricultural investment and financing projects, such as farm income compensation, management support, production base expansion, and rural development. If the annual tax revenue of 5.534 trillion won (2012) is not secured, it would not be possible to accomplish investment and financing. However, in chapter 3, STRD still have a problem in terms of the revenue scheme. First, there is the regular deficit in tax revenue because government has overestimated the revenue annually. Second, STRD can be a little volatile being a surtax that a tax upon the other taxes. Amounts of other taxes may be fluctuated, which affects the stability of STRD revenue. To relax this problem, we suggests to simplify the scheme of STRD such as adjusting the tax rate and adding another tax for being levied. We focus on the expenditure of STRD in chapter 4. Still, there needs to be improvement in the expenditure structure so that the STRD can play the role of a special-purpose tax effectively. The STRD is currently assigned to the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Villages. The share of STRD in the account is 38.8%(2012). Out of the total fund of the special account, 57.7% is allocated for STRD projects while the rest 42.3% (2012) is transferred to other accounts such as the Special Account for Regional Development. As we mentions in chapter 6, there are limitations to achieving the original purpose of STRD since the expenditure is implemented according to the overall direction and purpose of the agricultural investment and financing plan, rather than according to an independent plan for STRD. For enhancing efficiency, we emphasize several points. First, it is necessary to reset a role of STRD as an earmarked tax. It is highlighted to link the STRD investment plan with the agriculture's outlook. Second, resource should be allocated efficiently. Inefficiency appears in the process of implementing the STRD project and agricultural investment and financing. It is important to adjust investment priorities, simplify the budget structure, and strengthen the performance evaluation system.

Researchers: Joonkee Park, Meebok Kim, Jieun Lim Research period: 2013. 8. - 2013. 12. E-mail address: jkpark@krei.re.kr 차 례