The heirs of Samsung, by far the largest South Korean conglomerate, announced on Wednesday that they intended to sell paintings by Picasso, Monet or Gauguin to settle the inheritance taxes following the death of their father, and which are rising. to nearly 9 billion euros.
Lee Kun-hee, the man who presided over Samsung Electronics' global take-off, was South Korea's first fortune when he died in October at age 78, leaving behind an estimated estate of 22 trillion won (16.4 Billions of Euro's).
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South Korea has very strict inheritance laws, with very high tax rates.
This implies a particularly high tax for the heirs of the patriarch, including the de facto boss of the Samsung group, Lee Jae-yong, who is serving a sentence of two and a half years in prison for corruption in particular.
An impressive collection of works
The Lee family "
expects to pay more than 12 trillion won in estate taxes, which is more than half of the late president's total estate
," Samsung said in a statement. "
These inheritance taxes are among the highest ever demanded in Korea and in the world,
" the group continues, specifying that the family will pay these taxes in six installments, starting this month. This heritage includes shares in Samsung Electronics, Samsung Life and Samsung C&T, as well as real estate, according to the press release. Lee Kun-hee also had an impressive collection of works of art, valued by some media between 2,000 and 3,000 billion won.
Samsung specifies that 23,000 works from this collection would be donated, including 14 pieces classified on the list of National Treasures of South Korea which will be presented at the National Museum of Korea.
Works by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Joan Miro and Salvador Dali will also be donated to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA).
Some media claim that these donations of works of art should help reduce the tax bill for the family.
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A trillion won must also be donated for good works in the health field, half of which is to be used to finance Seoul's first hospital specializing in infectious diseases. Samsung, whose flagship Samsung Electronics is one of the world leaders in smartphones and memory chips, alone accounts for a fifth of the GDP of South Korea, the world's 12th largest economy.