South Korea’s tax revenue in the first eight months of this year has grown more than 17 trillion won ($15.06 billion) from the same period last year on solid export growth, already surpassing the government’s earlier projection for additional tax income for this year, government data showed on Friday.

According to a monthly report published by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Friday, the government has collected 189.5 trillion won in taxes in the January-August period, up 17.1 trillion won from the same period last year.

The increase was already 2 trillion won more than what the government had expected to collect as tax revenue for 2017. Earlier in July, the government forecast this year’s national tax would increase to about 251 trillion won, up about 15 trillion won, or 6 percent, from last year’s collection of 242.6 trillion won.

The progress rate of tax revenue, which refers to the percentage of actual tax revenue collected to the target amount, was also up 1.4 percentage points to 75.5 percent from a year ago.

Tax revenue increased evenly across the board. The government has collected 45.7 trillion won in corporate tax in the January-August period, 6 trillion won higher from a year earlier. Income tax revenue has also risen 5 trillion won to 51.7 trillion won during the same period, and value added tax revenue has added 3 trillion won to 47.9 trillion won.

The excess in corporate tax collection was due to improved tax amount for interim prepayment in August, data showed. Income tax also increased as more taxpayers reported their requirements while value-added tax revenue gain was led by an increase in imports.

According to the finance ministry, the country’s economic growth led by an upswing in exports mainly drove the gain in tax revenue and improvement in budget balance. The ministry will continue to enhance its management on internal and external risks, particularly arising from two major countries the United States and China amid the growing protectionism on the trade front, and continue to reform its finance by adjusting spending to maintain stable growth policy, it said.

By Kim Se-woong

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