Income Concentration in Top 0.1%... Capital Region Earns Over Twice the Average 3.6 Billion Won

The average income per person in the top 0.1% of comprehensive income was found to be more than twice as high in the Seoul metropolitan area compared to non-metropolitan areas.

According to the 'Comprehensive Income Filing Status by City and Province (2022 Tax Year)' submitted by the National Tax Service to Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, 6,051 people in the Seoul metropolitan area earned an average of 3.65894 billion KRW, while 4,223 people in non-metropolitan areas earned an average of 1.72141 billion KRW, which is 2.1 times less than the average income of the top 0.1% in non-metropolitan areas.

Comprehensive income refers to the total income from interest, dividends, business, labor, pensions, and other sources. In particular, the annual average income of the top 0.1% high-income earners by city and province showed a difference of up to 5.5 times.

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The city with the highest average income per person in the top 0.1% of comprehensive income by city and province was Seoul, where 2,307 people earned an average of 6.48264 billion KRW in 2022. Busan followed with an average of 2.5199 billion KRW (592 people), ranking second, and Gwangju was third with an average of 2.37763 billion KRW (252 people).

On the other hand, the average income of the top 0.1% in Gangwon (1.18143 billion KRW, 253 people), Chungbuk (1.24057 billion KRW, 270 people), and Gyeongbuk (1.26637 billion KRW, 376 people) was about one-fifth of Seoul's. Nationwide, the average comprehensive income per person in the top 0.1% was 2.86317 billion KRW.

Looking at the quintile ratio (income of the top 20% compared to the bottom 20%) to understand income disparity and polarization by city and province, the quintile ratio was found to be larger for comprehensive income than for earned income. Nationwide, the quintile ratio for earned income was 15.1 times, whereas for comprehensive income it was 43.1 times.

The area with the most severe income disparity nationwide was Seoul. The top 20% earned a staggering 64.9 times more than the bottom 20%. While the bottom 20% in Seoul earned 2.62 million KRW annually, the top 20% earned 1.7001 billion KRW per year. Busan followed with a ratio of 46.7 times (bottom 20% 2.44 million KRW, top 20% 1.1403 billion KRW), and Daegu ranked third with 44.8 times (bottom 20% 2.67 million KRW, top 20% 1.1971 billion KRW), indicating severe polarization.

Representative Yang said, "The government should operate fiscal and tax policies in a direction that redistributes income and alleviates inequality," and criticized, "Even though income and wealth polarization remain severe, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is focusing only on tax cuts for the wealthy, such as abolishing the financial investment tax and easing the criteria for major shareholders' stock transfer tax."

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