S. Korea’s tax revenue increases more than 55 tln won in Jan.-July from year ago

Sep 10, 2021, 08:58 am

		0
Source: Yonhap news

AsiaToday reporter Lee Ji-hoon

The government’s total tax revenue in the first seven months of this year jumped more than 55 trillion won (US$47 billion) from a year earlier, amid a strong economic recovery and boom in property market. However, spending also increased, resulting in a deficit of 57 trillion won (US$48.8 billion) and the nation’s sovereign debt exceeding 900 trillion won (US$770.5 billion) for the first time.

According to the September edition of the Financial Trends released Thursday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, tax revenue between January and July stood at 223.7 trillion won (US$191.5 billion), up 55.1 trillion won (US$47.1 billion) from a year ago.

By category, tax revenue related to economic recovery, such as corporate tax income of 10.9 trillion won (US$9.3 billion) and value-added tax (VAT) income of 9 trillion won (US$7.7 billion), increased by 25 trillion won (US$21.4 billion) from a year ago. Asset tax revenue including capital gains tax income of 9.1 trillion won (US$7.7 billion) and securities transaction tax income of 2.2 trillion won (US$1.8 trillion), also increased by 15 trillion won (US$12.8 billion) thanks to a boom in the stock and real estate markets.

The government’s total income, including the non-tax revenue and the national fund income, totaled 356.9 trillion won (US$305.5 billion) during the January-July period, up 76.5 trillion won (US$65.4 billion) from a year earlier.

Despite such record-breaking tax revenue, the government’s total expenditure also rose to 377.6 trillion won (US$323.2 billion) in the seven-month period, up 21.6 trillion won (US$18.4 billion) on-year.

As a result, the fiscal balance was still in deficit. In the seven-month period, the country posted a fiscal deficit of 20.7 trillion won (US$17.7 billion). However, the deficit decreased by 72.6 percent from 75.6 trillion won (US64.7 billion) a year earlier.

The consolidated balance excluding social security funds, which shows the actual financial condition of the government by subtracting the four major guarantee funds from the consolidated balance, recorded a deficit of 56.9 trillion won (US$48.6 billion), down by 42 percent from 98.1 trillion won (US$83.9 billion) a year ago.

Due to the accumulated fiscal deficit, the national sovereign debt stood at 914.2 trillion won (US$782 billion), topping the 900 trillion-won mark for the first time ever.

#tax revenue #tax income