Coal Power Generation Tax '100% Increase'... Chungnam, Annual 36.6 Billion KRW → 73.2 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The tax rate for the local resource facility tax on thermal power generation (hereinafter referred to as the thermal power generation tax) will double starting in 2024.

According to Chungnam Province on the 10th, a revision to the Local Tax Act containing this content passed the National Assembly plenary session the day before. The key point of the Local Tax Act revision is to raise the thermal power generation tax rate from the current 0.3 won per 1 kWh to 0.6 won in 2024.

Applying the increased tax rate, the thermal power generation tax collected in Chungnam is expected to rise from 36.6 billion won annually to 73.2 billion won. Nationwide, the scale of the thermal power generation tax will increase from the current 114.6 billion won to 229.2 billion won.

The thermal power generation tax is mainly used for safety and disaster prevention measures in cities and counties where thermal power plants are located, environmental improvement projects, investigations and research, projects under the comprehensive energy plan, renewable energy-related projects promoted by the province and cities/counties, energy saving, and energy welfare projects.

Representative detailed projects include ▲energy welfare for vulnerable groups ▲solar heat support projects for village halls ▲energy convergence and district complex projects ▲distribution of small LPG storage tanks ▲carbon neutrality for basic environmental facilities ▲indoor air quality improvement for coal-fired power plants ▲creation of eco-friendly energy towns ▲water quality preservation and improvement ▲investigation of environmental pollution from thermal power generation.

The additional revenue from the tax rate increase will be used for energy transition projects such as the spread of renewable energy including solar power, wind power, and renewable energy convergence complexes, fostering the hydrogen industry, supporting R&D for secondary batteries and fuel cells, promoting next-generation energy projects such as distributed power supply, and climate and environmental projects including fine dust response and investigation and improvement of the environment around power plants, according to the province’s plan.

Meanwhile, the province estimates that the social cost caused by thermal power plants amounts to 17.2 trillion won.

In particular, while external costs are about 1.6 to 143.7 times higher than those of nuclear power generation, the local resource facility tax rate has so far been only about 30% of that for nuclear power generation. Therefore, the province judged that raising the thermal power generation tax rate is urgent and has been building a nationwide coalition and conducting various activities to raise the tax rate.

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