The government said on the 31st that national tax revenue in January–February this year reached 71 trillion won, up 10 trillion won from a year earlier. Earned income tax and capital gains tax each increased by more than 2 trillion won. In addition, the security transaction tax more than doubled from last year.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economy's "status of national tax revenue in February" released that day, the progress rate, which is the ratio of taxes actually collected to the total national tax revenue budget for January–February, was 18.2%, up from the same period last year (16.3%). It was also higher than the recent five-year progress rate (16.8%).
Income tax, which accounts for the largest share (46%) of national tax, collected 29.2 trillion won in January–February, up 2.4 trillion won from last year. As the number of employed people increased, earned income tax rose. In addition, with a larger volume of real estate transactions, capital gains tax also came in higher than last year.
Next, value-added taxes, which carry a large share (33%), brought in 21 trillion won, an increase of 4.1 trillion won from last year. A substantial portion of VAT refunds was processed at the end of last year, reducing refunds this year, it said. Higher import values also played a role.
Although its share within national tax is only 2.7%, revenue from the security transaction tax jumped from 600 billion won last year to 1.7 trillion won this year, more than doubling. The increase reflects higher securities trading value and a rise in the security transaction tax rate. Starting this year, the security transaction tax rate was raised to 0.05% from 0% for the KOSPI market and to 0.20% from 0.15% for the KOSDAQ market.