By November Last Year, Tax Revenue Increased by 55.6 Trillion Won... 'Income and Corporate Tax Dual Pull' Progress Rate Surpasses 100%

Financial Trends

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] The economic recovery has been faster than expected, and the national tax revenue collected until November last year has already exceeded the government's annual tax revenue target. It is also expected that the annual excess tax revenue will surpass the government's announced amount of 19 trillion won.

According to the '2021 Monthly Fiscal Trends and Issues (January issue)' published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 13th, the national tax revenue from January to November last year totaled 323.4 trillion won, which is 55.6 trillion won more than the same period a year earlier. The tax revenue progress rate reached 102.9%, surpassing 100% as of November.

By tax category, income tax showed the highest progress rate at 107.2%, influenced by a favorable asset market and an increase in the number of employed persons. A total of 106.6 trillion won in income tax was collected until November, an increase of 20.2 trillion won compared to the previous year.

Corporate tax also increased by 14.7 trillion won from the previous year, collecting 68.8 trillion won, with a progress rate of 104.9%.

Value-added tax (VAT) rose by 6.1 trillion won compared to the previous year, totaling 70.3 trillion won. The progress rate was 101.3%. All three major national taxes?income tax, corporate tax, and VAT?surpassed a 100% progress rate by November.

Including national tax revenue until November, other non-tax revenue, and fund revenue, the total revenue last year amounted to 523.9 trillion won, with a progress rate of 101.8%. This is an increase of 86.1 trillion won compared to the previous year.

Total expenditure increased by 45.2 trillion won from the previous year to 546.3 trillion won, with a progress rate of 90.3%.

Accordingly, the integrated fiscal balance (total revenue minus total expenditure) showed a deficit of 22.4 trillion won. However, compared to the integrated fiscal balance deficit of 63.3 trillion won at the same time last year, this represents an improvement of about 40.9 trillion won.

As of November, the national debt (central government basis) stood at 944.6 trillion won. Considering that the government expects the national bond amount to decrease by the end of the year, it forecasts that the national debt will slightly decrease to 939.1 trillion won as of December. Last year, the issuance of government bonds will be reduced by 5.8 trillion won from the issuance limit (186.3 trillion won) by utilizing excess tax revenue and other means.

Deputy Minister Ahn Do-geol of the Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "The expansionary fiscal policy has led to a faster-than-expected economic recovery and improved tax revenue conditions, resulting in a 64% reduction in the integrated fiscal balance deficit as of the end of November compared to the same period last year," and evaluated that "a virtuous cycle structure of fiscal policy has been established." He added, "This year, we will continue the expansionary fiscal stance to achieve a full economic recovery and early stabilization of people's livelihoods," and said, "We will make every effort to provide layered support such as loss compensation and quarantine support so that small business owners who have suffered greatly from COVID-19 can overcome this difficult period well."

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