Gov't tax revenue falls sharply in Jan.

SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- The government's tax earnings dropped 16.6 percent
on-year in January amid stagnant domestic growth brought on by the global
economic crisis, a government report said Thursday.
The report by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance sent to Rep. Baek Jae-hyun
showed revenues reaching 21.74 trillion won (US$16.40 billion) in the first month
of the year, down from 26.06 trillion won a year earlier.
The opposition Democratic Party lawmaker said the 4.3 trillion drop in revenue
surpasses the reduction of 3.3 trillion won anticipated by the government for the
cited month.
He said that total value-added taxes collected plunged 25.5 percent annually to
9.09 trillion won, while income taxes totaled 3.58 trillion, compared to the 3.82
trillion won tallied for January 2008.
The lawmaker claimed that while corporate tax earnings moved up to 2.71 trillion
won from 2.32 trillion won, the gain is mainly due to money that should have been
collected last year coming in a month later.
Related to the figures provided to the lawmaker for the parliamentary
interpellation, the finance ministry said that due to the need to take into
consideration tax refunds and complicated delays in payment, monthly revenue
reports are not viewed as a significant economic indicator.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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