Gyeonggi-do Implements 'Local Tax Voice Conversion Barcode' for Visually Impaired Taxpayer Convenience

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is jointly promoting the introduction of voice-conversion barcodes on local tax payment notices for the convenience of visually impaired taxpayers with 31 cities and counties in the province. This is the first time a metropolitan local government has promoted the bulk introduction of barcodes with cities and counties.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 1st, due to the revision of the Enforcement Rules of the Local Tax Collection Act on December 31 last year, from this year, voice-conversion barcodes for the visually impaired must be displayed on local tax payment notices. The voice-conversion barcode is a device that allows users to scan with a smartphone and hear information such as tax items, payment amounts, and payment deadlines.

However, among the 31 basic local governments in the province, only two places, Yongin and Gwangju-si, are implementing this.

This is because the introduction has been delayed due to license purchase costs and budget allocation procedures related to barcode adoption.

Accordingly, the province held a video conference on the 16th of last month to listen to the opinions of cities and counties and decided to prepare a joint response plan at the metropolitan local government level for the first time in the country.

This month, the province will directly negotiate purchase prices and contract conditions with the patent holder company and then promote joint purchasing. Once the contract is signed, voice-conversion barcodes will be adopted on the payment notices of the relevant cities and counties starting with the regular automobile tax notices as early as December this year.

Additionally, the province plans to introduce a foreign language translation function to the voice-conversion barcode system on tax payment notices so that not only the visually impaired but also multicultural families and foreign taxpayers can use it.

A provincial official said, "While it is principle that cities and counties responsible for issuing actual notices respond, there have been some difficulties in effective responses by each city and county, so we decided to promote bulk introduction at the metropolitan local government level for the first time in the country. We will continue to discover areas where the province can support to improve taxpayer convenience in the region."

Meanwhile, there are a total of 53,782 visually impaired adults aged 20 or older residing in the province.

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