Tax revenue falls $39 bil. through Oct. on weak corporate performance
Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun speaks at a meeting in Seoul, Nov. 6. Yonhap
Korea's tax revenue fell 51.1 trillion won ($39.07 billion) during the first 10 months of 2023 from a year earlier due mainly to weak corporate activities and the prolonged slump in the property market, the finance ministry said Thursday.
Tax revenue came to 305.2 trillion won during the January-October period, down 14.17 percent from the previous year's 355.6 trillion won, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
In October alone, the government collected 38.6 trillion won in taxes, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier.
It was the first time so far this year that the monthly tax collection logged on-year growth.
This year's decline was attributable to the fall in corporate taxes collected amid companies' dwindling earnings.
The collection of corporate taxes amounted to 76.1 trillion won during the 10-month period, down 23.7 percent from a year earlier.
Listed companies in Korea reported 14.6 trillion won of operating profits combined in the first half of this year, sharply down from 56.4 trillion won from the previous year, according to government data.
The amount of income tax collected also fell 13.5 percent on-year to 93.9 trillion won due to the real estate market slump.
Home transactions from November last year through August 2023 lost 14.4 percent on-year, and land contracts sank 33.6 percent, according to the ministry.
The value-added tax collected during the January-October period also went down 6.8 percent on-year to 74.2 trillion won on sluggish private consumption and the decline in imports.
The ministry has said that the country is forecast to suffer a shortfall of around 59 trillion won in tax revenue this year, as it has sought to collect 400.5 trillion won this year.
"The monthly tax collection went up last month for the first time this year and we expect such improvement for the remaining months. There is the possibility of the government being able to collect more taxes than it previously forecast," a ministry official said. (Yonhap)