Last year, tariff arrears exceeded 2 trillion won. However, the collected arrears amounted to only 107 billion won, representing just 5%.
According to data received from the Korea Customs Service by lawmaker Park Seong-hoon of the ruling People Power Party on the 27th, the number of tariff defaulters last year was recorded at 2,461. The tariffs they failed to pay totaled 2.0786 trillion won.
Tariff arrears were 1.1302 trillion won in 2020, but increased to 1.5780 trillion won in 2021, 1.9003 trillion won in 2022, and 1.9900 trillion won in 2023.
However, while the arrears have nearly doubled over the past five years, the collection achievements have remained stagnant.
The collected amounts increased from 79.9 billion won in 2020, 92 billion won in 2021, 125 billion won in 2022, to 133.5 billion won in 2023, but decreased to 107 billion won last year.
By the scale of arrears, there were 151 individuals (6%) who owed more than 1 billion won. Their arrears accounted for 1.9094 trillion won, which represents 92% of the total amount owed.
There were 93 individuals owing between 500 million and 1 billion won, 329 individuals owing between 100 million and 500 million won, and 1,888 individuals owed less than 100 million won, constituting 77% of the total.
Lawmaker Park noted, "In the midst of a 30 trillion won shortfall in tax revenue last year, the fact that tariff arrears have exceeded 2 trillion won is a significant problem," adding, "Since effective collection management could substantially fill the gap in tax revenue, extraordinary measures are necessary."