Data released by the South Korean government on Monday indicates that the country's tax revenue for the first eight months of this year fell by 9.4 trillion KRW (approximately $7.19 billion) compared to the same period last year, primarily due to weak corporate profits.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the government collected 232.2 trillion KRW in taxes from January to August, a decrease of 3.9% year-on-year. The main reason for the decline in corporate taxes was the poor performance of domestic companies last year. Corporate taxes amounted to 45.6 trillion KRW, down 26.9% (16.8 trillion KRW) from the previous year. This decline is largely attributed to the reduced earnings of companies, with operating profits of companies listed on the main board dropping by 45% year-on-year, while those of KOSDAQ-listed companies decreased by 39.8%.
Personal income tax collection stood at 77.1 trillion KRW, a slight decrease of 0.1% year-on-year. However, value-added tax revenue increased by 13.6% to 59 trillion KRW due to higher consumption. On the other hand, securities transaction tax revenue fell by 15.9% to 3.5 trillion KRW.
