Per-Capita Tax Burden Up 30 Percent in Five Years

The per-capita tax burden was 3.16 million won last year, eclipsing the previous record.

According to a report the Ministry of Finance and Economy submitted to Uri Party member Kim Jong-yull of the Finance and Economy Committee of the National Assembly on August 14, the per-capita tax burden of the gross domestic product (GDP: 778.4 trillion won) was 3.16 million won last year, up by 2.5 percent year-on-year from 3.08 million won in 2003.

The per-capita tax burden has steadily increased to 2.42 million won in 2000, 2.59 million won in 2001, and 2.84 million won in 2002. The rate of increase has been 30.6 percent over the past five years.

“National contributions,” which include taxes, social security contributions such as national pension, health insurance, and unemployment insurance, and all kinds of quasi-taxes, recorded 191.7 trillion won in 2004, up by 4.3 percent from 2003 (183.7 trillion won).

In-Jik Cho cij1999@donga.com