South Korea’s tax collection falls short of expectation

South Korea’s tax revenues in the first two months of the yearfell short of expectations, related data from the finance ministry showed Wednesday,signaling possible problems as the government moves to speed up its spending tostimulate the economy.According to the data from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance submitted to an opposition lawmaker, tax revenues in the January-February period came to some31.1 trillion won (US$29.84 billion), only 14.4% of the estimated annual total,(Yonhap) news agency reported.The collection rate is similar to that of the same period last year when thegovernment struggled from a shortage of 8.5 trillion won, according to Rep. ParkWon-suk of the minor opposition Justice Party.The rate also falls short of the 17.4% in 2010 when the former Lee Myung-bakadministration introduced a wide range of tax cuts.The government earlier expected this year’s tax revenue to reach 216.5 trillion won,up 16.6 trillion won from 2013.“The government has asserted there will be no shortage tax revenue this year, but awarning signal has again gone off. The government must step up its efforts toprevent and expose tax evasion and delinquency to make sure the country does notagain face problems of a deficit,” an official from Park’s office said.In the first two months of the year, only the income tax reached its earlier target ofover 16.6% with 18.9%. The amount of value-added tax collected came to 16.2% of theestimated annual total, with that of corporate tax coming in at 4.5%.