Korea¡¯s tax revenue from stock trade dips 64% on year on retail exit from stock market

Taxes collected from securities transactions in South Korea plunged 64 percent in the first eight months of the year as retail stock investment took a hit from rising interest rates.

According to documents obtained by Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Sun-mee from National Tax Service Thursday, securities transaction tax stopped at 528.5 billion won ($369.1 million) in August, almost halved from 1.01 trillion won a year ago.

Cumulatively, taxes plunged 64.1 percent on year to 4.69 trillion won as of August, compared with 5.1 trillion won in January-August of 2020.

Securities transaction tax collected by the government surged in 2020 amid retail stock frenzy during pandemic period. Monthly taxes jumped from 306 billion won in January 2020 to 642.3 billion won in June and 903.9 billion won in December before surpassing 1 trillion won.

Taxes that hit 1.1 trillion won in January and 1.02 trillion won in February of 2021 sank to 754.2 billion won in January this year and 477.9 billion won three months later.

Securities transaction tax is imposed proportionately on stock trading amount when investors sell stocks regardless of profit and loss. The bigger the trading, the greater the tax becomes. .

Securities trading amount fell to 627.6 trillion won in August from 1,153.04 trillion won in the same month last year. Retail trade halved to 420.5 trillion won from 834.7 trillion won.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]