Rep. Lee Hyung-seok: "Measures Needed for Annual Local Tax Arrears of 3.5 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] It has been revealed that the annual amount of local tax arrears exceeds 3.5 trillion won. Among these, high-value arrears of 30 million won or more accounted for one-third.

According to local tax arrears data received from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety by Lee Hyung-seok, a member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Eul), the total number of local tax defaulters last year was 7,391,000, with arrears amounting to 3.5359 trillion won.

This figure is lower than before 2017, when arrears were maintained at 4 trillion won, but it has remained in the high 3 trillion won range following last year's 3.668 trillion won.

Among them, the number of high-value defaulters with arrears of 30 million won or more totaled 11,436, with their arrears amounting to 1.1677 trillion won. This means that only 0.15% of all local tax defaulters accounted for 33% of the total arrears.

By region, Seoul had the highest number of high-value defaulters with 4,402 people (424 billion won), followed by Gyeonggi with 2,965 people (339 billion won), Gyeongnam with 644 people (55.3 billion won), and Gyeongbuk with 532 people (54.6 billion won). Gwangju had 162 people (55.6 billion won).

The number of high-value defaulters subject to travel bans last year was 980, an increase of 36.7% compared to the previous year.

By region, Seoul had the most with 571 people, followed by Gyeonggi (129 people), Gyeongnam (72 people), Jeonbuk (49 people), Incheon (24 people), and Gwangju (14 people).

Assemblyman Lee Hyung-seok said, “With local governments’ financial independence at about 49.1%, the local financial situation is not good, and local tax arrears amounting to 3.5 trillion won are further worsening local finances. It is necessary to strengthen collection activities and take strict measures against habitual high-value defaulters.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.