Moon calls for measures with excess tax revenue to help small merchants, self-employed

This photo shows President Moon Jae-in speaking to his aides at a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday ordered aides to come up with measures using excess tax revenue to help small merchants and self-employed people suffering from the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Moon gave the instruction after he was briefed about last year's excess tax revenue, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee told reporters.

In the first 11 months of last year, tax revenue rose 55.6 trillion won ($46.5 billion) on-year to 323.4 trillion won, according to the finance ministry.

The accumulated tax revenue is higher than the government's previous estimate of 314.3 trillion won for all of 2021. This means excess tax revenue came to 9.1 trillion won in the January-November period.

Moon's remarks came as the ruling Democratic Party (DP) has been pushing for a supplementary budget.

The DP plans to let the National Assembly approve a bill of an extra budget by Feb. 14, a day before official campaigns begin for the March 9 presidential election. (Yonhap)