[Opinion] Tax Chief

Some time in the 1980s, the desk of National Tax Agency`s chief was relocated toward Chongwaedae so that the director could see the presidential residence whenever he or she sat down on his desk. It was a symbol of the widely shared idea that the tax chief was supposed to be given directions only from the president. The National Tax Service was placed under the Ministry of Finance, but the head of the agency was hardly supervised by the ministry. People even called the Ministry of Finance as `the Finance Agency under the Ministry of Tax Service.` It had, in fact, long been a practice to appoint one of close associates of the president to head the tax agency. Throughout the Third Republic, ex-generals, who were confidents of then army general-turn president Park Jung-hee, were mostly named head of the tax agency.

▷After the agency was launched as a separate organization apart from the Ministry of Finance, ex-generals who led the coup with Park continued to serve as director of the agency. In the early years under dictator Jeon, it was also a group of military officers close to Jeon who headed the tax agency. It was only during the Sixth Republic that high-ranking officials from the tax agency began to lead the organization. Most were, however, from Taegu-Kyungbuk area, known as TK, where then president Roh Tae-woo was born and raised. Roh`s successor Kim Young-sam, who is from Pusan, also did the same by naming people from Pusan-Kyungbuk, or PK area, as tax chief. Ahn Jung-nam, former tax chief who led the investigation into major newspapers and is now on the ram, was from the place where former president Kim Dae-jung is born.

▷With close associates to the president spearheading the organization, the tax agency might have been able to grow in power and standing. For most people, however, the agency was seen turning into a tool of corrupt politics during the course. It was so because it only served to the interests of the man in power by exercising its undisputed authority. Whenever there was a transition in power, the agency was rushing to launch witch-hunt investigations into political enemies of its boss. The cases in point are investigations against Hyundai Group and Pohang Steel. Another one is the investigation against the press apparently aimed to force silence on certain touchy issues.

▷Now the future of the tax agency is drawing keen attention with the launch of the Roh government. President Roh said a few days ago that NTS would `stop exercising its authority for the interest of the government and instead become a hardworking but low-profile government agency.` And indeed, President Roh appointed a man who is neither close to the president nor from his political base as a new chief of the agency. The tax agency will be able to carry out its duties only when the president does not abuse his power and the tax chief has grits to fight against any unjustified demands. Even in the U.S., there has been pressure from the higher level, but tax chiefs have not succumbed to the undue demands. And now is our turn to have a righteous tax agency.

Park Young Kyun, Editorial Writer, parkyk@donga.com