South Korea’s total revenue, including tax gains, fell 77 trillion won (US$57.9 billion) on-year in 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s total revenue, including tax gains, fell 77 trillion won (US$57.9 billion) on-year in 2023 due to economic challenges from home and abroad, government data showed Thursday.
For fiscal 2023, the country’s total revenue amounted to 497 trillion won, falling from 573.9 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Its gross expenditures reached 490.4 trillion won, down 69.3 trillion won over the period, the data also showed.
The government collected 344.1 trillion won in taxes, down 51.9 trillion won from a year earlier.
The finance ministry attributed the decrease to the weaker corporate performances due to the deteriorating external business conditions from abroad since the fourth quarter of 2022, which led to a decrease of 23.2 trillion won in corporate tax collected.
The amount of capital gain tax collected also shed 14.7 trillion won due to the slump in the local property and securities market, it added.
The ministry added taxes collected from wages moved up 1.7 trillion won on-year in 2023, due mainly to the country’s strong job market coupled with a hike in salaries.
South Korea also collected 7.9 trillion won less value-added tax due to the falling amount of imports. The amount of customer duties shed 3 trillion won as well.
In 2023, the country’s imports came to $642.7 billion, down 12.1 percent from a year earlier.
The finance ministry noted that the government was responsible for a 0.4 percentage point of South Korea’s annual economic growth of 1.4 percent tallied in 2023.
“Despite the lower amount of tax collected last year, the government rolled out policies related to the people’s livelihood and the economic revitalization without delay by utilizing surplus funds,” Second Vice Finance Minister Kim Yoon-sang said.
The government will submit the final report to the National Assembly by the end of May.
(Yonhap)
