It turned out that from January to May this year, the security transaction tax and The Special Tax for Rural Development collected more than the total amount for all of last year. As the stock market boom continued, with the KOSPI index at one point surpassing 9,000, taxes paid when selling stocks also jumped.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economy, from January to May this year, the security transaction tax and the rural special tax came to 5.4 trillion won and 7.7 trillion won, respectively. The total is 13.1 trillion won. That exceeds last year's full-year combined take from the security transaction tax and the rural special tax of 12.6 trillion won. Over the past year, the security transaction tax and the rural special tax came to 3.4 trillion won and 9.2 trillion won, respectively.
The security transaction tax is levied when selling stocks on KOSPI, KOSDAQ, KONEX, and K-OTC. On KOSPI, 0.05% of the sale proceeds is charged, and on KOSDAQ, 0.2% is charged. In addition, a 0.15% rural special tax is added to KOSPI sale amounts.
For example, if an individual sells 1 million won worth of KOSPI stocks, 500 won must be paid as a security transaction tax and 1,500 won as the rural special tax. If one sells 1 million won worth of stocks on KOSDAQ, 2,000 won is charged as the security transaction tax, and there is no need to pay the rural special tax.
The surge in the security transaction tax and the rural special tax appears to stem from active stock trading in the first half of this year. The value of listed stock transactions from December 2025 to April this year, which affected tax revenues from January to May, was tallied at about 5,977 trillion won. That is up 235.5% from the same period a year earlier (about 1,781 trillion won). As recently as a year ago, monthly transaction value was in the 300 trillion to 400 trillion won range, but this year it has jumped to the 1,100 trillion to 1,500 trillion won range. The effect of restoring previously lowered rates to their original levels (KOSPI last year 0% → this year 0.05%; KOSDAQ 0.15% → 0.2%) also played a role.
Record net selling by foreigners also appears to have had some impact. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, foreign investors have been net sellers of listed stocks on the domestic market for five consecutive months recently. Applying the rates simply to Korea Exchange (KRX) statistics, foreigners are estimated to have borne around 18% of the combined security transaction tax and rural special tax from January to May this year. That is higher than the estimated full-year ratio last year (around 16%).
Stock market-driven tax receipts also lifted overall national tax revenue. From January to May this year, national tax revenue was 199.9 trillion won, up 16% from a year earlier. Assuming this growth rate holds through the end of the year, collections could come in nearly 20 trillion won above the government's revenue forecast for this year (415.4 trillion won). The presidential office said, "To use the additional tax revenue as funding for investments for future generations, we will push to establish a 'future response fund.'"