The People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) announced that it has opened a website that shows the actual amount of taxes paid by individuals, and where the money used. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan.23 (Korea Bizwire) – The People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) announced that it has opened a website that shows the actual amount of taxes paid by individuals, and where the money used. The site was named ‘Sausage’ (www.peoplepower21.org/sosegi), which is an abbreviation of the Korean words ‘income, tax, and government spending’.
If a user inputs their income on the site, data such as the amount and portion of taxes one paid, annual expenditures by index and the amount used by the government are automatically calculated and shown to the user.
For instance, if an individual who earns 19,750,320 won every year inputs their income, they can learn that they are in the top 50 percent in income, and paid 0.98 percent of their earnings as taxes (193,891 won).
Also, the site informs that 33 won from the taxes paid went to ‘the four rivers project’, 507 won to ‘private sector investments’, 91 won to ‘U.S. defense expenses’ and 260 won to ‘natural resource diplomacy’.
The PSPD says that the overall income of Koreans is frighteningly low, and there is a huge wage gap.
The organization also pointed out that those with high incomes are not paying an appropriate amount of taxes compared to their earnings, stating that reasonable adjustments should be made to tax policies.
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
