[THE INVESTOR] The government on Oct. 17 revealed a list of 36,433 new citizens and companies with unpaid local taxes of more than 10 million won (US$8,763) for one year or longer, officials said.

The Ministry of the Interior said that it decided to disclose the list after they refused to specify their reasons for failing to pay their taxes even though they have been asked to do so for more than six months.

According to the ministry, the list includes 29,848 individuals whose unpaid taxes total 800.1 billion won. Also included in the list are 6,585 companies that have not paid 1.07 trillion won in dues.

The government has revealed a list of habitual tax delinquents since 2006. Until last year, the list involved only those with delinquent taxes surpassing 30 million won.

The Myongji Educational Foundation, a Christian entity dedicated to education, topped the list with unpaid acquisition taxes tallied at 2.50 billion won. Also on the list is former President Chun Doo-hwan, who has failed to pay local taxes to the tune of 536 million won.

By region, Seoul has the largest number of tax delinquents with 12,729, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 12,667, South Gyeongsang Province with 2,001 and Busan with 1,374.

In terms of the amount of unpaid taxes, Seoul also topped the list with the total amount owed by its residents reaching 415.3 billion won, trailed by Gyeonggi Province with 321.8 billion and South Gyeongsang Province with 62.7 billion won.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)