Tax officials undertaxed taxpayers to the tune of 1.85 trillion won ($1.64 billion) over the past five years, according to a tax authority report.
In the report submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday, the public was revealed to have been overtaxed by 353.8 billion won in the same period.
Amid growing criticism, the NTS noted that it had punished or issued warnings to about 17,000 officials involved in tax miscalculation.
However, only 113 officials out of the 17,000 people received actual punishment. The others were let off with a warning that has no detrimental effect on their career.
The report also revealed that miscalculation was the rise. The NTS missed out on about 323.7 billion won in tax revenue in 2009, 409.4 billion won in 2010 and 568.4 billion won in 2012.
The discrepancy in tax revenues poses a challenge to the Park Geun-hye administration’s plan to secure 53 trillion won for the welfare budget without tax increases in the next five years. President Park has said the funds could be collected through regulating the shadow economy, enacting the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit Act, cracking down on tax evasion in overseas tax havens and other means.
By Chung Joo-won (
joowonc@heraldcorp.com)
