[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A constitutional petition claiming that the tax accountant qualification exam favored candidates with backgrounds as tax officials, causing disadvantages to general applicants, has been dismissed.
According to the legal community on the 21st, the Constitutional Court decided on the 8th without substantive review that the constitutional petition filed by 256 tax accountant exam candidates, arguing that "Article 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Tax Accountant Act, etc., is unconstitutional because it does not separate the selection method of successful candidates according to the type of examinee," was inadmissible.
The petitioners filed a constitutional petition for confirmation of unconstitutionality due to legislative inaction, but the Constitutional Court reportedly judged that the petition itself was inappropriate because the Tax Accountant Act already has an enforcement decree. Legislative inaction refers to the legislature's failure to enact a law despite the constitution explicitly delegating the enactment of legislation to guarantee citizens' fundamental rights.
In last year's 58th Tax Accountant Qualification Exam, 82.1% (3,254 out of 3,962) of general examinees scored below 40 points in the more difficult Tax Law Part 1 subject, resulting in failure due to a substandard score.
However, most candidates with backgrounds as tax officials were exempted entirely. According to current law, public officials who have worked as tax officials for more than 20 years or have more than 10 years of experience at the National Tax Service and have served at grade 5 or higher for more than 5 years are exempt from taking the Tax Law Part 1 and Part 2 exams.
As a result, among the 706 total successful candidates in last year's tax accountant qualification exam, 237 (33.6%) were former tax officials. Among them, 151 tax officials were identified as having been exempted from some subjects in the second stage.
Accordingly, the petitioners, who are general examinees, filed a constitutional petition in January, claiming inequality among examinees.
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