The National Tax Service's collection performance for non-tax revenue has been criticized as the lowest among 61 government agencies during a recent audit. Despite expanding its delinquency management team to 10,000 personnel to enhance collection capabilities, the agency's own collection results remain poor.
During the National Assembly's audit of the National Tax Service held at the Government Sejong Complex on October 13, lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon of the People Power Party pointed out that the agency's collection performance for non-tax revenue ranked last among all 61 government agencies.
According to data presented by Kim, the National Tax Service reported a non-tax revenue shortfall of 12.582 trillion won last year, while the amount collected was only 3.094 trillion won, indicating that the shortfall was four times greater than the actual collections.
The collection rate has also been on a downward trend. The National Tax Service's collection rate for non-tax revenue fell from 4.6% in 2021 to 3.1% in 2022, and further to 2.5% in 2023, with a continued decline expected.
Kim argued that while the National Tax Service cites a high proportion of delinquency penalties as a reason for its poor collection performance, even excluding these penalties, the collection rate stands at 53.4%, significantly below the average of other departments.
He also raised concerns about the effectiveness of the delinquency management team, referencing a similar initiative during the tenure of President Lee Jae-myung as governor of Gyeonggi Province, which he claimed did not yield satisfactory results relative to the budget invested.
According to Kim, Gyeonggi Province hired approximately 7,000 temporary workers for its delinquency management team from 2019 to 2023, investing 103.3 billion won to collect 276 billion won. However, the average annual collection amount for the province decreased from 416.6 billion won in 2017-2018, before the team was established, to 405 billion won during its operation from 2019 to 2023.
Kim expressed concern that the initiative, while appearing promising, may lack substance, urging for a thorough analysis and improvement of the delinquency management team's performance.
In response, National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun explained that the unique nature of non-tax revenue makes direct comparisons with other agencies challenging. He noted, "The structure of the National Tax Service means that penalties applied to delinquent amounts are classified as non-tax revenue, which inherently results in lower collection performance compared to other departments."
Lim expressed confidence that implementing integrated collection strategies, leveraging the agency's existing infrastructure, would lead to improved collection rates. He also committed to developing solutions to address concerns regarding the effectiveness of the delinquency management team.
The National Tax Service plans to expand its delinquency management team, which was launched with 500 personnel in March, to 10,000 by the second half of the year, deploying them across 133 tax offices nationwide. According to the National Tax Service, as of July, the team had collected 63.2 billion won in cash, exceeding three times the budget allocated for the initiative.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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