Input 2021.03.13 06:00
In the business world, there are observations that the art collection of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, called the’Lee Kun-hee Collection’, will be available for sale on the market to raise the inheritance tax of the Samsung family. The art world argues that there is a possibility that a large number of Chairman Lee’s works of art will be exported abroad, and insist that a part of the enormous inheritance tax be paid as art works to prevent this. Even in the business world, opinions are cautiously raised as to “Should we stop selling works of famous painters in Lee Kun-hee’s collections abroad?”
Although the claim that the state should step forward to prevent the export of Lee Kun-hee’s collections abroad is boiling, some civic groups are opposing the introduction of the payment system as a’Samsung preferential treatment’.
According to the business community on the 13th, a report on the appraisal of art that Samsung commissioned to three places, including the Art Appraisal Committee of the Korean Gallery Association, the Korean Art Appraisal Center, and the Korean Art Poetry Appraisal Association, will be delivered to Samsung next week. It is reported that the Samsung family will come up with a plan for art processing based on this report.
In the business world, there is a prospect that the Samsung family, including Vice Chairman Lee, will sell some of these artworks to raise enormous inheritance taxes. The Samsung family’s inheritance tax following Chairman Lee’s stock inheritance is 11,366 billion won, the highest ever. In the market, the method of providing the shares inherited by the Samsung family as collateral to the tax authorities and funding through stock dividends and financial sector loans to pay the inheritance tax in installments is popularly discussed. Under the current law, if the burden of inheritance tax is large, the inherited assets can be provided as collateral to the tax office, and the tax can be paid out for five years.
A business official said, “It will be a little burdensome to pay the inheritance tax with dividends as the dividend tax rate rises from this year.” “I said.
When the news that the Samsung family could sell the’Lee Kun-hee Collection’ was heard, the art world suddenly turned upside down. Nationally-designated cultural properties and modern art are prohibited from being exported overseas under the Cultural Heritage Protection Act, but if the works of famous Western artists are sold to overseas buyers, it is unlikely that they will return to Korea. The Lee Kun-hee collection is known to contain works by famous Western artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Auguste Rodin, Frances Bacon and Andy Warhol. The art world estimates the value of Lee Kun-hee’s collection at over 3 trillion won. In the case of works by famous Western artists, the main opinion of the art world is that the actual value can be further increased because’calling is price’.
◇ “Introducing a payment system to prevent the outflow of artworks abroad”… Some of the companies protested against’Samsung’s preferential treatment’
In the art world, there is a claim to prevent the export of Lee Kun-hee’s collections abroad by introducing a payment system for cultural assets and artworks. Hwang Dal-seong, chairman of the Korean Gallery Association, said at a press conference last February, “It is necessary to pay the inheritance tax as art work so that the collection of Chairman Lee Kun-hee does not leak abroad.”
Twelve cultural and artistic organizations including the Korea Gallery Association and eight former Ministers of Culture, Sports and Tourism made a suggestion on the 3rd to urge the prompt institutionalization of the payment system for cultural properties and art works. Recently, seminars related to payment system have been held, mainly in the art world.
This argument of the art world is also in line with the original purpose of the payment system for cultural assets and artworks, which prevents the export of cultural assets or artworks abroad. The art world argues that the introduction of the payment system for cultural assets and art works will prevent the outflow of cultural assets and artworks owned by individuals, and the state can manage and display them to attract foreign tourists.
An industry official said, “There are rumors in the industry that famous overseas art collectors are already showing interest in the Lee Kun-hee collection and making contact with them under water.”
The discussion on the payment of goods began again in May last year when the bereaved family members of the former chairman of the Gansong Art and Culture Foundation put out two treasure-grade Buddha statues at auction. Kansong Jeon Hyeong-pil is a figure who collected cultural assets such as calligraphy, ceramics, Buddha statues, stone works, and books that were leaked to Japan during the Japanese colonial period. However, the bereaved families handed over the inherited Buddha statue to auction due to financial pressure from the operation of the foundation. At the time, the art world made a voice saying that it is necessary to introduce a payment system, saying, “It is a cultural property that Gansong protected, but it is in a situation to be sold overseas.” In response, in November of last year, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Gwang-jae also proposed an amendment to the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act, which aims to introduce a payment system. Since then, the possibility of the sale of the Lee Kun-hee collection emerged, and the payment system again became a hot topic.
As the insistence on the introduction of the payment system intensified, some civic groups protested it, calling it the’Lee Kun-hee special law’. The Citizens’ Alliance for Economic Justice has recently issued a statement, “Payment of cultural assets and artworks that are not easy to judge the value can be abused as a means of tax avoidance.” The discussion is bound to be suspicious of its intention,” he said.
A business official close to the Samsung family said, “I know that the plan for art work has not been decided. I know that I will discuss the plan for art work by combining the opinions of my father and family.”
Considering the artistic value of the Lee Kun-hee collection, there is also an argument that the government should buy it in any way, even if it is not paid in cash. Choi Byung-seo, an emeritus professor at Dongduk Women’s University, said, “There is a way for the National Tax Service to purchase the artwork in an exclusive position at the lowest price based on the appraisal value of the lowest value of the art that Samsung appears. “I would like to advise you to come up with a groundbreaking proposal to build an art gallery and attribute it to a national or municipal art museum.”