Top 0.1% of Stock Dividend Income Hold More Than Half... Concerns Over Worsening Polarization

Top 10% Occupies Over 94%
Bottom 50% Holds Only 0.14%

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] It has been revealed that the stock dividend income received by the top 10,000 individual investors based on investment amount accounts for more than half of the total dividend amount. The proportion of the top 0.1% investors in stock dividend income exceeded half for the first time in four years since 2017. Concerns are emerging that dividend income polarization is expanding.

According to the '2016~2020 Dividend Income Percentile Status' data submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Ko Yong-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 20th, the total dividend income received by individuals in 2020 was 28.0566 trillion won, a 27% increase compared to the previous year (22.073 trillion won). This is nearly double the amount from four years ago in 2016 (14.0864 trillion won).

The dividend income taken by the top 0.1% of investors (11,123 people) was 14.0582 trillion won, accounting for 50.2% of the total. Their share of dividend income decreased from 51.7% in 2016 to 45.7% in 2017, then maintained the 40% range until 2019, but rose back to the 50% range in 2020. The top 1% of investors (about 110,000 people) took 73.7% (20.6691 trillion won) of the total dividend amount. The top 10% secured 94.6% (27.0234 trillion won) of dividend income, the highest proportion in five years.

Accordingly, the dividend income per investor in the top ranks also increased. Within the top 0.1%, the per capita dividend income was 1.2539 billion won, an increase of more than 180 million won compared to the previous year (1.0714 billion won).

On the other hand, the total dividend amount for the bottom 90% (10.11 million people) was 1.5185 trillion won, accounting for about 5.4%. This averages about 150,000 won per person. The share of the bottom 50% (5.6 million people) was 0.14%, corresponding to 7,120 won per person. Compared to 0.13% in 2016, the proportion slightly increased.

This phenomenon is interpreted as the result of a large influx of new small investors entering the stock market in 2020. Due to low interest rates, a massive inflow of funds into the stock market and a sharp rise in stock prices further widened the dividend income gap between the top and bottom.

Accordingly, discussions in the National Assembly regarding financial investment tax benefits are expected to intensify. The financial investment industry argues that tax benefits are necessary for dividend stocks in line with the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's tax reduction policy. They claim that the introduction of separate taxation on dividend income should be implemented together with the abolition of stock transfer tax.

Rep. Ko stated, "The structure of asset inequality, such as real estate and stocks, is worsening," and added, "It is necessary to strengthen taxation on high-net-worth individuals to prevent asset inequality from leading to income inequality."

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