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Taxes were also on the table of the transition team... particularly those currently unpaid
in the underground economy. Increasing collection is one strategy being
considered to avoid raising direct taxes on citizens.
Hwang Ji-hye has more on the latest ideas coming from the president-elect's committee.
Korea's tax burden ratio could rise two-percentage points to 21 percent... as the Park Geun-hye
administration enters office. Her transition team said Wednesday... that
this would be possible by raising the country's immense underground economy from beneath the
tax radar. The nation's tax burden ratio, which currently
stands at 19 percent... falls short of the OECD average... of 25 percent.
The tax burden ratio indicates... the ratio of tax revenues to the country's gross domestic
product. President-elect Park's transition team will
likely first tackle fuel fraud -- one of the fastest growing areas in the black market.
The team expects that measure will secure an estimated 5-hundred-billion won,... or
roughly 470-million U.S. dollars,... in tax revenue.
The National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has also allocated
around 6-million dollars for building a system... to crack down on illegal fuel.
Members of the transition team dedicated to defense and foreign affairs, meanwhile,...
are considering easing the 5.24 measure of the President Lee Myung-bak administration.
The 5.24 measure,... a punitive measure that severs economic relations with the North,...
was an about-face for the South Korean government, from a policy of engagement to one of containment.
The measure... has been criticized for having negatively impacted South Korean companies...
that do business in the North. Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News.