South Korea’s tax revenue increased 43.6 trillion won ($38 billion) in the first five months from a year-ago period on corporate income growth from robust exports and heated asset market.

The Korean government collected 161.8 trillion won during the first five months, 43.6 trillion won greater than the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday.

Corporate tax revenue gained 11.8 trillion won on year to 37.9 trillion won and value-added tax 4.3 trillion won to 33.6 trillion won as the economy has been picking up since the latter half of last year.

Capital gains tax and securities transaction tax added 5.9 trillion won and 2.2 trillion won, respectively, on the back of booming real estate and stock trades.

A separate data from the Bank of Korea Thursday showed stock share in financial asset holding by households exceeding 20 percent for the first time in the first quarter. Household holding in domestic stocks reached 36.5 trillion won and overseas stocks at 12.5 trillion won as of March, both all-time highs.

Excluding the base effect from a low tax collection last year due to the government’s Covid-19 relief measures, tax collection would have increased by 32.5 trillion won from January to May, the ministry said.

The progress rate of tax revenue, the percentage of actual tax revenue collected against annual target, reached 57.2 percent, 15.8 percentage points faster than last year.

In May alone, tax revenue grew 10.8 trillion won on year to 28.4 trillion won.

Non-tax revenue gained 2.2 trillion won to 14.6 trillion won thanks to the growth in the Bank of Korea’s reserves and the government’s investment profits.

Revenue from state-run funds amounted to 85 trillion won, up 17.4 trillion won from last year, on sound performance of social security funds including National Pension.

Fiscal spending reached 281.9 trillion won from January to May, 22.4 trillion won higher than the same period a year ago. Budget execution rate came at 49.2 percent, up 2.4 percentage points from last year.

Fiscal deficit narrowed during the first five months despite the surge in spending thanks to tax revenue growth.

The Korean government ran a consolidated deficit of 20.5 trillion won from January to May, down 40.8 trillion won from a year earlier.

Operational fiscal budget, which excludes social security funds from the consolidated balance, recorded a deficit of 48.5 trillion won. The red figure narrowed by 29.4 trillion won from the previous year.

National debt amounted to 899.8 trillion won in May.

By Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]