Religious Figures Earn an Average of 19 Million Won Per Person Annually... Top 10% Make 52.55 Million Won

[Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] In the second year since the implementation of taxation on religious figures, last year, the income reported by 95,000 religious figures averaged 1.57 million KRW per month per person, which is below the minimum wage.

According to data from the National Tax Service disclosed by Choo Kyung-ho, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the People Power Party, the number of religious figures who reported income for the 2019 tax year was 94,700, with a total reported income amounting to 1.7885 trillion KRW.

This averages to about 1.57 million KRW per month per person, which is below last year's minimum wage.

The taxation system on religious figures, implemented in January 2018, imposes taxes on income earned by religious figures from their religious activities. Religious income refers to income earned through activities as a religious figure and consists of earned income and other income.

Among those who reported religious income, 92,000 people (95.2%) reported only religious income. The total income they reported was 1.6723 trillion KRW, averaging 18.54 million KRW per person. The tax paid on income after deducting necessary expenses and earned income deductions was 13.9 billion KRW, averaging 154,000 KRW per person.

The remaining 4,500 people (4.8%) reported comprehensive income including rental income and other sources in addition to religious income. The religious income reported by these religious figures with other income was 116.2 billion KRW, averaging 25.82 million KRW per person.

The top 10% of religious income earners had an annual income of 462.4 billion KRW, averaging 52.55 million KRW per person.

This is higher than the average salary of 46.28 million KRW for medium-sized companies with 100 to 299 employees, but slightly lower than the average salary of 53.04 million KRW for large companies with 300 to 499 employees.

Meanwhile, taxation on religious figures was introduced starting with the 2018 tax year. The statistics on religious income related to the religious activities of clergy, excluding general administrative staff affiliated with religious organizations, were first extracted for the 2019 tax year.

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