All Revenue Budget Set at 2.8096 Trillion KRW This Year... Up 1.7% From Last Year's Collections
Selected as Excellent Institution for Local Tax Administration in Gyeonggi Province for Three Consecutive Years... Recognized for Systematic Revenue Administration
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan: "Laying the Foundation for Sound Finances and Advanced Industries Through Efficient Resource Management"
Goyang Special City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Dong-hwan) is striving to operate systematic revenue administration based on data and actively discover tax sources to ensure fair taxation and sound finances.
Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, attending the '2024 Local Tax Meritorious Person Day' ceremony. Provided by Goyang Special City
According to Goyang Special City on the 17th, the city was selected as an excellent institution for three consecutive years in the 2024 local tax administration operation evaluation hosted by Gyeonggi Province last year, and was also chosen as an excellent local government for two consecutive years in the 2024 local tax arrears settlement city and county evaluation. In January this year, it received a commendation for excellence from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety for contributing to the stabilization of the next-generation revenue system in 2024.
To secure new revenue sources, the city promotes job training and research activities, and operates policies that engage with citizens such as visiting children's tax classes, free consultations with village tax accountants, and appointing local tax ambassadors.
This year, Goyang Special City's general account revenue budget is 2.8096 trillion KRW, of which the local tax revenue budget is 772.2 billion KRW, and non-tax revenue is 134.3 billion KRW. The main local tax items are property tax, automobile tax, and local income tax, while non-tax revenues include property rental income, usage fees, commissions, and business income.
This year, the revenue budget was estimated reflecting factors increasing taxable targets due to new apartment construction and the occupancy of large building sites. As of the end of last year, the general account collection amount totaled 2.7958 trillion KRW, of which local taxes, the city’s own resources, amounted to 731.1 billion KRW, and non-tax revenue was 189.8 billion KRW.
The city is preparing various measures to collect local tax revenue early within the year. For stable revenue management, it continuously monitors and inspects tax revenue status based on systematic data and predictive models that collect and analyze tax collection status by item over the past five years, population status, economic indicators, and real estate market trends.
Pre-inspections are conducted on major tax items such as local income tax and property tax to meticulously manage and ensure no tax sources are missed. Income reporting windows for citizen convenience will be operated to maximize early collection rates.
Additionally, the city undertakes post-management of non-taxable, reduced, and heavy tax subjects and discovers hidden tax sources through various investigative techniques. Last year, the city conducted tax data investigations using local tax data maps and investigated corporate acquisition tax reduction real estate, achieving a total collection of 2.5 billion KRW.
The city plans to discover its own resources and expand local finances to minimize financial impacts from economic fluctuations and secure stable revenue.
As the need for professional revenue increase job training arises, job training to enhance the capabilities of tax officials is also conducted. In October last year, the city held the ‘Goyang City Local Tax Officials Workshop for Financial Expansion’ to provide local finance education to employees and invited the head of the Local Finance Analysis Center at the Korea Local Tax Research Institute to discuss measures to secure financial soundness.
This year, research activities on revenue will also be carried out to expand independent resources and secure new tax sources. A research group composed of tax department officials will explore new tax sources, improve revenue systems, and find ways to expand independent finances to discover future resources for Goyang Special City.
The city operates various policies to establish a culture of sincere tax payment and tax administration in harmony with citizens, such as visiting children's tax classes, free consultations with village tax accountants, and appointing local tax ambassadors.
Through the operation of village tax accountants, free tax consultations are provided to small business owners, farmers and fishermen, and vulnerable groups. Village tax accountants operate as volunteer activities donating their talents from tax accountants affiliated with the Tax Accountants Association, cooperating with Donggoyang Tax Accountants Association and Goyang Tax Accountants Association, and are assigned by district to work for two years. The city appointed 40 village tax accountants for the 5th term from 2024 to 2025, marking the largest scale among basic local governments nationwide. The village tax accountant system started as a specialized project in Goyang City in 2015 and was expanded nationwide in 2016.
Additionally, the city operates children's tax classes to help them understand the necessity and use of taxes. The self-produced teaching materials include an introduction to Goyang City, the importance of taxes, local tax guidance, and the role of local councils tailored to children's levels, and also contain QR codes to watch videos and comics to attract interest.
Last year, the program was operated for about 500 elementary school students in the district, and due to a significant increase in educational demand, it plans to expand sequentially this year.
Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang Special City stated, “We will use the precious taxes paid by citizens frugally and efficiently to maintain sound finances and lay the foundation to leap forward as an advanced future industrial city.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
