By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Koreans had shouldered a record-high level of taxes and social security payments last year, the National Assembly Budget Office reported Friday.
According to the office, the tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), which is a combined ratio of all kinds of taxes plus social security payments, stood at 28.7 percent as of June, 2008, the highest level since 2001.
The comparable figure last year was 26.8 percent, and the figure has been on the rise since 2004 when the rate stood at 24.6 percent.
Economists said the ratio rose sharply in 2007 primarily because the former Roh Moo-hyun administration levied heavy taxes in its last year of his presidential term.
They also said the jump in tax burden is attributable to the rise in the number of beneficiaries of national pension, industrial injury insurance and employment insurance health insurance.
Korea is the fastest growing country among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members.