[보도] 91 days go to paying ’08 taxes

No matter how one looks at it, everyone is going to die and a certain number of days each year are going to be spent working not for one’s personal wealth, but for the government’s.

So how many days does that turn out to be this year?
For the average taxpayer in Korea, the number is 91, making today the nation’s Tax Freedom Day, according to the Center for Free Enterprise, Korea’s representative libertarian think tank.

Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year in which an average taxpayer has theoretically earned enough to fund his annual tax burden, the think tank explained.

The day fell on March 29 last year.

“In the 2000s, Tax Freedom Day is falling an average of one day later every year, which indicates that each Korean’s tax burden gets heavier every year,” said Choi Seung-no, a research fellow at the think tank.

Tax Freedom Day is identified by applying the ratio of total taxes to national income, the Center for Free Enterprise explained.

Tax revenue for 2008 is estimated at 209.1 trillion won ($211.1 billion), and national income is expected to reach 837.

2 trillion won, according to government data.

The ratio is 25 percent, which means average taxpayers have to pay 25 percent of their income as taxes this year.

Another way to think about taxes is to identify each day’s Tax Freedom Hour, the think tank said.

Average taxpayers, who work from 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

with an hour off for lunch, are paying the equivalent of earnings for the first hour and 59 minutes each day as taxes.

The figure was one hour and 54 minutes last year.

“The progressive tax system is one reason for the continuously increasing tax burden,” Choi said.

“National incomes and price levels have risen steadily, but the thresholds for upper income tiers, which pay higher taxes, have not been raised.”
Choi added that former-President Roh Moo-hyun’s administration initiated a comprehensive real estate tax that shares the blame for the rising overall tax burden.

The comprehensive real estate tax is an additional property tax paid for high-priced homes or by those who own multiple homes.

By Moon So-young Staff Reporter [symoon@joongang.co.kr]