SEOUL — Retail investors in South Korea contributed a substantial portion of the stock transaction tax collected last year, shouldering 75% of the total tax burden.
According to Yonhap News Agency, The Korea Securities Depository reported on Saturday that the government amassed approximately 6.06 trillion won ($3.29 billion) from the stock transaction tax in 2023, with retail investors alone paying 4.57 trillion won. Foreign investors contributed nearly 1 trillion won to this total. The data comes amidst governmental plans to eliminate the capital gains tax on financial investments and reduce the stock transaction tax to 0.15 percent by 2025. However, these proposed tax cuts, including reductions in inheritance tax, are facing opposition from the Democratic Party, which argues that such measures will lead to a significant decrease in tax revenues.