Seoul, Jan. 30 (BNA): South Korea’s Finance Ministry said Monday that South Korea’s tax revenue rose 51.9 trillion won ($42 billion) in 2022 compared to the previous year on the back of increased corporate income tax collection, along with renewed consumption.
The government collected 395.9 trillion won in taxes last year, Yonhap News Agency reported, up 15.1% from the 344.1 trillion won collected in 2021, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
In 2020, tax revenue decreased by 7.9 trillion won due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, before rebounding by 58.5 trillion won on an annual basis in 2021.
The ministry attributed the increase to increased corporate income tax collection, which rose 47.1 percent, or 33.2 trillion won, to 103.6 trillion won.
Income tax collection also increased, as more people were employed on the back of easing epidemic regulations in 2022, advancing 12.8% year on year to 128.7 trillion won.
Separate data from the government earlier showed that the number of workers reached 28.08 million in 2022, an increase of 816,000 over the previous year. It represents the largest number since 2000, when the nation reported an annual increase of 882,000 jobs.
It added that the collection of value-added taxes jumped 14.6 percent to $81.6 trillion as consumption increased.
However, tax collection from stock transactions fell 38.5% to 6.3 trillion won amid the market downturn. South Korea’s main index collapsed by 25% in 2022.