13 trillion won less corporate tax collected by April

It was found that taxes collected as of April this year had decreased by more than 8 trillion won compared to last year. As corporate tax revenue from companies decreased by nearly 13 trillion won last year due to poor performance, some analysts say that a ‘tax revenue puncture’ is inevitable this year as well.

According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Friday, the total amount of taxes collected by the government as of April this year was 125.6 trillion won, down 8.4 trillion won from the same period last year. National tax revenue for April was only 40.7 trillion won, down 6.2 trillion won from last year. Accordingly, this year's cumulative national tax revenue, which decreased by 2.2 trillion won in March compared to last year, increased in April.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance predicts that 367.3 trillion won in taxes will be collected this year, more than 20 trillion won more than last year (344.1 trillion won). However, taxes collected by April were only 34.2% of this estimate. Not only is this lower than the average progress rate over the past five years (38.3%), but it is also lower than last year (38.9%), when there was a tax revenue deficit of 56 trillion won.

This decrease in tax revenue is mainly attributed to corporate tax. As of April this year, corporate tax revenue was 22.8 trillion won, a sharp decrease of 12.8 trillion won from last year. Major conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix had an operating loss last year, which had a significant impact on their ability to pay corporate taxes. Among major taxes, 35.3 trillion won in income tax was collected as of April, down 400 billion won from last year.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com