In a recent analysis by Hankyoreh based on the National Tax Statistics Annual Report, it was observed that the real burden of labor income tax on all workers rose significantly between 2023 and 2024, whereas high-income earners maintained their tax burden. Specifically, for those making between 200 million KRW and 300 million KRW and those making between 300 million KRW and 500 million KRW, the effective tax rates remained constant at 22.2% and 27.1% respectively, despite an increase in the overall effective tax rate for all earners from 6.6% to 6.9%. This notable trend highlights how inflation and rising nominal incomes typically increase tax burdens, yet high-income brackets saw a divergence with stagnant rates.

The report underscores a concerning dynamic where tax benefits designed to alleviate burdens have disproportionately favored high-income individuals. Despite the overall trend of increasing effective tax rates among all workers in previous years, high-income earners experienced decreasing effective rates in the three years leading up to 2023, which indicates a systematic benefit shift towards affluent tax brackets. For example, the effective rate for those earning between 20 million and 30 million KRW decreased over three years, pointing to a troubling trend in tax policy favoring wealthier individuals.

Furthermore, a study by the National Assembly Budget Office revealed that the allocation of tax expenditures heavily favors high-income earners, with their share of the top 20 tax expenditure items witnessing a 2.0 percentage point increase since 2020, while middle- and lower-income earners saw their share decrease by an equivalent amount. This raises questions about equity in the tax system, emphasizing the need for a reassessment of tax policies that could better distribute tax relief benefits among all income brackets, rather than concentrating them among the wealthiest citizens.