On May 29, Vice Minister Lim Gi-geun chaired the third meeting of the Public Charge Management Committee, where the "2025 Comprehensive Report on Public Charge Management" was finalized. This report will be submitted to the National Assembly by the end of this month.
Public charges are imposed in addition to taxes based on the principle of beneficiary and cause for the execution of specific public interest projects. Notable examples include the National Health Promotion Charge levied on tobacco consumers, the development charge that recovers a portion of profits from land development projects, and the traffic impact charge imposed on owners of large facilities in urban traffic management areas.
Currently, 82 public charges are managed by 19 ministries, including the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (21 charges), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (15 charges), and the Financial Services Commission (8 charges). The Comprehensive Report on Public Charge Management provides overall information related to public charges and serves as a financial statement for the national budget.
The total amount collected from public charges last year was 23.4 trillion won, a decrease of 800 billion won (3.3%) from the previous year’s 24.2 trillion won. This marks the first decline in five years since 2020. By ministry, the Ministry of Climate collected the most at 6.47 trillion won, followed by the Financial Services Commission at 5.77 trillion won and the Ministry of Health and Welfare at 2.88 trillion won.
The significant drop in the National Health Promotion Charge, which decreased by 279.5 billion won due to reduced tobacco export volume, contributed greatly to this decline. Additionally, the rate for the Agricultural Land Preservation Charge was adjusted from 30% to 20%, and the rate for the Power Industry Fund was reduced from 3.7% to 2.7%, resulting in decreases of 112.4 billion won and 311.2 billion won, respectively. In total, 44 public charges saw a reduction in collection, amounting to 1.4 trillion won.
Conversely, efforts to secure funding for financial support for low-income households led to an increase of 136.8 billion won in contributions to the Korea Financial Services Agency, while contributions to regional credit guarantee foundations and the Central Credit Guarantee Foundation rose by 95.5 billion won. Additionally, the collection from 37 public charges, including the School Site Charge (340 billion won), increased by 600 billion won.
The majority of the collected funds, totaling 19.8 trillion won (84.4%), were allocated to central government funds and special accounts. In terms of expenditure, 7.1 trillion won (30.1%) was directed towards financial support for small businesses and low-income households, the largest share. The industrial and energy sectors received 5.1 trillion won (21.8%), while the health and medical sectors, including National Health Promotion, accounted for 2.9 trillion won (12.3%), primarily utilized for public interest projects.
Vice Minister Lim Gi-geun stated, "The public charge system, as a pillar of national finance, will be carefully managed to contribute to mitigating social externalities and applied transparently and equitably to the public and businesses. We will ensure that the funds are efficiently returned to essential public interest projects, such as supporting low-income finance and building industrial foundations."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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