SEOUL: South Korea’s national tax revenue continued to grow in the first seven months of 2017 amid a steady growth pace of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The government collected 168.7 trillion won ($149.2 billion) in taxes in the January-July period, up a solid 13.4 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The amount collected is equal to 67.2 percent of this year’s tax revenue target of 251.1 trillion won, including some 11 trillion won worth of a supplementary budget that was approved by parliament last month. Revenues from value added tax rose 2.7 trillion won to 49.9 trillion won, and income tax revenues gained 3.2 trillion won to 44.6 trillion won in the seven months through July. Corporate tax collection totaled 34.8 trillion won, up 4.6 trillion won from a year earlier. The South Korean government has been basking in brisk tax income since last year when the total earnings reached 242.6 trillion won, exceeding the original goal by 9.8 trillion won and rising by a record 24.7 trillion won from a year earlier.
