출산후 여성의 사회재진출 지원을 위한 세제개선방안

Practical Plans to Revise Tax Laws to Support After-birth Women’s Employment

Although the current Constitution prescribes that the nation should secure substantial equality of economic opportunities and maternal protection for women, the burden of childbirth and care severely obstructs women’s after-birth economic activities. Based on recognition of this problem, this study suggests practical plans to revise tax laws to help effectively after-birth women employed through the tax system as below. First, deduction for child-fostering expenses and educational expenses should be modified into tax credit and private eduation expenses for elementary school students should be applied to deduction for eduation expenses. Second, overall deductions should be increased for married female employees and married couples should choose their tax filing status between current individual-based taxation and couple-based taxation. Third, maternity leave benefit should be deductible from employer’s taxable income or creditable from employer’s tax liablities. Fourth, tax credit for expenses of acquiring and operating workplace childcare center should be increased and exempt from alternative minimum tax. Furthermore, land acquisition cost should be included in those expenses and creditable from value added tax liabilities. Fifth, after-birth self-employed women should also be applied to tax credits and their business should be filed through the simplified tax return system. Sixth, deduction for married women should be increased and specifically augmented for after-birth women who inevitably have to work for a living. Seventh, firms to adopt the purple job, which effectively helps male spouses share childcare burden and female spouses’ career continue during childcare period, should be regarded as the small and mid-sized firms in the tax system and applied to the superdeduction for employees’ wages. Firms to adopt alternative work schedule should be treated similarly in the tax system. Last, current requirements for EITC should be mitigated to expand into after-birth women who inevitably have to work for a living and should be classified based on whether female spouses bear childcare burden or not.