Assemblyman Lee Hyung-seok: "Strong Sanction System Needed for High-Amount Tax Delinquents"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] There have been calls for strong measures against willful tax delinquents who evade their tax obligations despite having the ability to pay.

On the 15th, Lee Hyung-seok, a member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Eul), announced that the "Local Tax Collection Act" should be amended to introduce a detention system that confines willful delinquents who evade tax obligations despite having the ability to pay in detention centers.

It has been revealed that Jeon Du-hwan’s unpaid local taxes amount to 970 million won, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government has not been able to collect a single penny over the past two years.

Seoul City has been continuously tracking properties owned by Jeon Du-hwan for collection purposes, but it is difficult to secure claims as it is not easy to find assets that can guarantee the debt, making collection challenging.

In 2018, movable property and two paintings seized during a house search were auctioned off, collecting 69 million won, but since then, there has been no record of collecting Jeon’s delinquent local taxes.

However, Jeon Du-hwan still enjoys a luxurious lifestyle, playing golf and dining on course meals at high-end Chinese restaurants last year.

Currently, administrative measures against high-amount malicious delinquents like Jeon Du-hwan are limited to public disclosure of their names.

Assemblyman Lee said, “Those who have the ability to pay but do not comply must be severely punished,” adding, “To realize tax justice and a fair society and to enhance the effectiveness of delinquent tax collection, the ‘Local Tax Collection Act’ must be amended to impose strong sanctions on malicious delinquents.”

Currently, the National Tax Service has introduced and is promoting a “detention order” system that allows confinement in detention centers or jails for up to 30 days for malicious delinquents with national taxes over 200 million won.

Assemblyman Lee argued, “In the case of local taxes, if a person with the ability to pay has delinquent local taxes three or more times, one year has passed since each delinquency occurred, and the total delinquent local taxes exceed 10 million won, a detention system that confines the delinquent in a detention center should be strongly promoted and enforced.”

He added, “Delinquent tax payment is a criminal act equivalent to tax evasion,” emphasizing, “This is an antisocial crime that causes distrust and public outrage in the community, so it must be punished with a firmer resolve to prevent high-amount delinquents from gaining a foothold in our society.”

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