Top 5% Income Earners Accounted for 25% of Total Income

The Proportion of Tax Reduction Amount Decreases from 56% to 40%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The number of earners with an annual income exceeding 100 million won is approaching 1.2 million, and less than 5% of earners accounted for 25% of the total integrated income. Meanwhile, the proportion of tax reductions has actually decreased.

According to data on integrated income (earned + comprehensive) by income bracket for the years 2015 to 2020, submitted by the National Tax Service to Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of earners with integrated income exceeding 100 million won in 2020 was 1,194,063, accounting for 4.86% of all earners.

This is an increase of 380,441 compared to 803,622 earners in the income bracket exceeding 100 million won in 2015. At that time, earners with an annual income exceeding 100 million won accounted for only 3.82% of the total population.

The total income of earners with an annual income exceeding 100 million won was 226.7007 trillion won in 2020, which means they earned 24.94% of the total integrated income of 908.8688 trillion won in the same year. In 2015, the income share of earners exceeding 100 million won was 21.55%, showing an increase of over 3% in six years.

While the income share, deduction amount, and tax burden level of high-income earners with annual income exceeding 100 million won increased proportionally to income, the proportion of tax reduction amounts decreased. In 2020, the total tax reduction amount for earners with income exceeding 100 million won was 850.4 billion won, accounting for 40.13% of the total tax reductions of 2.1186 trillion won, which is a significant decrease compared to 56.29% in 2015.

On the other hand, in 2020, the total tax reduction amount for earners in the integrated income bracket of 20 million to 40 million won, numbering 7,759,651, was 666.6 billion won, accounting for 31.47% of the total tax reductions, a significant increase compared to 17.58% five years earlier. Representative Jin emphasized, "This is the result of the previous government increasing income tax reduction benefits for youth and economically vulnerable groups employed in small and medium-sized enterprises."

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