SEOUL: Korea’s tax receipts in 2015 hit a surplus for the first time in four years. The finance ministry says the country collected roughly three-hundred billion U.S. dollars, putting the gap between revenue and expenditure at around eight billion.
The surplus comes on the back of improved domestic consumption and favorable asset market conditions coupled with a revised tax law that nearly doubled cigarette prices.
However, customs duty slumped by around one-hundred-80 million dollars after seeing sluggish imports due to plunging oil prices. Income tax revenue from interest rates also dropped as the country’s key rate hit a record-low of one-and-a-half percent.
