Only 2 pct of inheritors pay inheritance taxes: lawmaker

SEJONG, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- Only two percent of those who inherited wealth from their parents paid inheritance taxes in recent years, an opposition party lawmaker said Friday.

Rep. Park Kwang-on of the main opposition Minjoo Party said more than 1.45 million people inherited a combined 151 trillion won (US$135 billion) from their parents between 2011 and 2015.

Still, only 32,330 paid inheritance taxes, accounting for 2.2 percent of the total. It means more than 1.42 million people did not pay a dime.

Meanwhile, more than 1.17 million people received a combined 163.1 trillion won in donated fortunes from their parents between 2011 and 2015. But 45.5 percent of them did not pay gift taxes, Park said.

South Korea's nominal gift tax comes to 50 percent, but the effective tax rate stood at roughly 21 percent.
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