998 Candidates of the June 13 Elections Paid No Taxes

Among the candidates of the June 13 local elections, a total number of 998 candidates, a share of 9.1 percent of the total candidates, have not paid a penny of taxes in three categories of income tax, properties tax, and composite land tax for the last three years.

According to a data collected by the National Election Commission on May 30, candidates who have no record of paying taxes of the three tax categories are as follows; one candidate for wide-area self-autonomous administrative head, 48 candidates for base-level administrative head, 215 candidates for wide-area local councils, and 734 candidates for base-level local councils

Candidates who paid less than one million Won for the past three years, including the above mentioned candidates, numbered 6,003, more than half (55.0 percent) of the total candidates, and classified as follows; six candidates for wide-area self-autonomous administrative head, 222 candidates for base-level administrative head, 950 candidates for wide-area local councils, and 4,825 candidates for base-level local councils.

When the candidates are assumed to have little properties and to be a worker paying only income taxes, not properties and composite land taxes, they pay less than a salaried worker who earns 24 million Won annually and pays income taxes of 605 thousand Won based on a standard tax exemption of four family members.

Additionally, some candidates have no record of paying taxes even though they have certain properties and occupation, which raises suspicion. Among the 48 candidate of base-level administrative head who had no record of paying taxes, five candidates filed a report that they own properties worth of three hundred million Won.

A total of 93 candidates paid more than 100 million Won as taxes in the past three years, and 142 candidates paid taxes in a range of more than 50 million Won and less than 100 million Won. The tax records of the candidates running for in the local elections can be retrieved in www.nec.go.kr.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com