Samuel S.

asked • 03/15/17

percentage of population paying Federal income tax in Korea and other countries if possible...

I just cannot find any information on the tax collection percentage in Korea, not tax rate but the percentage entire population actually paying income tax. If anybody can help me out that would be great.
 
Moreover, please check this numbers that i got from the internet so far, whether it sounds convincing: France56%, US53%, UK46%, Germany33%, japan20%, South Africa6%, Mexico3%, India3%, China2%, Pakistan1%

Robert M.

So I have found some reputable sources citing estimates of 45% of US households (not individuals) paying no Federal income taxes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2015/10/06/new-estimates-of-how-many-households-pay-no-federal-income-tax/#40dc696c61cb). Now these are households with no tax liability, not households who owed taxes but did not comply.
 
Also found a reputable source citing a 1% Indian compliance rate -- there it's due to extreme inequality and a big informal sector. China still seems very fishy to me.
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03/15/17

Robert M.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that the literature on tax compliance is fairly technical, there is quite a bit of uncertainty in terms of the data you put into these models, and in terms of what estimates come out. For a developed country like Korea you should at least have decent government data (though recent corruption scandals leave some doubt about whether it might be doctored). But I've been strangely unable to find any really scholarly sources (or even anything from a solid institution or NGO) that directly addresses the question of either the percentage of South Korean households with tax liability or the percentage out of compliance. Sorry I couldn't be more of a help; someone with access to academic econ databases might be.
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04/20/17

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Robert M. answered • 03/15/17

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Hi there,
 
First off, it does not seem remotely plausible that only 2% of the Chinese population would be paying income tax, even if you're including the non-working-age population -- China is not that young a country.
 
Second, you say you got your results from "the Internet" -- where? From the same site or different sites? It matters, because you might be comparing apples and oranges -- for instance one source might be giving you the percentage of the TOTAl population on the tax rolls, another the percentage of the WORKING-AGE population, etc.
 
I'm doing some research on this at the IMF and World Bank; will write back shortly.
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Samuel S.

thank you for the prompt reply^^
It is hard to find the exact figure for China...but in India, most websites say only 1~3% of whole population pay federal income tax (of course we are strictly looking at individuals, not corporates).
 
if you type " how many pay tax in india" at google, you will see the figures.
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03/15/17

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