Income tax revenue hits $45 billion in 2022, rising almost 70% over five years

[Photo by MK DB]

Korean employees’ income tax payments increased by nearly 70 percent in five years, growing at the fastest pace among all national tax.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday, last year’s income tax revenue reached 57.4 trillion won ($45 billion), exceeding the 50 trillion won mark for the first time.

This is an increase of 23.4 trillion won or 68.8 percent compared with the tax revenue of 34 trillion won in 2017. During the same period, gross national tax revenue increased by 49.2 percent.

The comprehensive income tax imposed on the self-employed and sole proprietors grew by 49.4 percent. While the comprehensive income tax increased at a level similar to the national tax, the income tax on salaried workers increased faster than that of the national tax.

The government said the increase in the income tax revenue was due to an increase in the number of employed people on the back of an economic recovery.

The number of workers who reported year-end tax settlement for their income for 2021 was 19.96 million, an increase of nearly 1.95 million compared to 2017.

The average real income of urban worker households was 4.4 million won a month, reflecting the rise in inflation, in the third quarter, down by 2.5 percent from a year ago.