S. Korea's tax revenue remains upbeat through May

SEJONG, July 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea continued to enjoy an overflow in tax income through the first five months of the year on a steady hike in corporate and value added taxes, the government said Tuesday.

The government collected 123.8 trillion won (US$93.1 billion) in dues in the January-May period, up 11.2 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

The amount is equal to 51.1 percent of the 242.3 trillion won in tax revenue the government expects to bring in for 2017. Taxes collected so far are 2.7 percentage points higher than numbers tallied for the same period last year.

Corporate taxes totaled 31.4 trillion won, up 4.3 trillion won from a year earlier.

Revenue from value added taxes rose 2.5 trillion won to 31.2 trillion won, and income tax revenue gained 1.8 trillion won to 32 trillion won in the five-month period.

The upside trend of South Korea's national tax revenue is an ongoing process. In 2016, the country's total tax revenue reached 242.6 trillion won, exceeding the original target by 9.8 trillion won and increasing by a record 24.7 trillion won from a year earlier.

brk@yna.co.kr
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