Citizens vote during the midterm elections 07 November, 2006, at a polling station located in an car dealership in Glendale, California, 10 miles (16.6 km) north of Los Angeles,California. Republican control of Congress is in the balance today as voters cast their ballots across the nation. Democrats mining public discontent over President George W. Bush's war in Iraq battled to break the Republican stranglehold in Congress Tuesday, as millions of Americans went to the polls. Democratic leaders predicted they would recapture the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994, but needed to pull off a less likely clean sweep of battleground seats to seize the Senate. AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK



Common Man Enraged by Tax Evasion of High Income People

The amount and methods of tax evasion by self-employed business owners with large incomes, which was reported yesterday by the National Tax Service (NTS), have discouraged working people. The tax that was collected as a surcharge from 362 people, including doctors, lawyers and owners of various entertainments who were prosecuted by the NTS amounted to no less than 245.2 billion won. Despite the fact that they have earned an average of 1,420 million won per person annually, only 730 million won was declared to the tax service. In other words, they declared only half of their income and kept the other half without paying any tax. In particular, it has shown the reality where tax evasion is used as a means of accumulating a fortune as the average wealth of the self-employed, with the high rate of tax evasion, appeared to be 6.7 billion won.

The income level or amount of tax evasion may seem unfamiliar to the common man. It can surely infuriate laborers who cannot evade paying tax and the majority of self-employed business owners who honestly pay the appropriate amount of tax. In the case of one hospital director, he received medical fees that cannot benefit by medical insurance in cash and he falsely claimed his child works at the hospital and paid more than 100 million won in wages annually. Another incident is that a lawyer evaded 1.1 billion won of income by depositing associate bills amounting to 600 million won in a borrowed-name bank account that was opened under the name of an elder sister of a head official. Doctors and lawyers who are supposed to handle lives of people and are legal personnel have sold their souls and disregarded the law only for their own unjust financial benefit. It is a wonder how they can face their patients and clients from now on.

Results of the investigation carried out by the NTS show that it is foolish to expect noblesse oblige from certain people in society. It is understandable that the tax service has decided to re-commence tax investigations on professionals with large incomes. It should persistently proceed with thorough investigations, and no exceptions, with the intent to strictly manage fair administration of national tax laws.
/ 입력시간: 2006. 11.08. 09:10