Yeongjong-gu in Incheon (Mayor Son Hwa-jeong) announced on the 3rd that it will operate a "Local Tax Delinquency Management Team" to conduct field surveys and tailored collection activities targeting delinquents who owe 1 million won or less in local taxes and non-tax revenues. The core aim is not merely to collect overdue taxes, but to examine delinquents' living conditions and, where necessary, connect them to welfare support.
 [The Korean Today] Yeongjong-gu CI © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The management team will be staffed by dedicated personnel from the tax department and fixed-term workers, and will be tasked with combining phone consultations and on-site visits to check and analyze the causes of the delinquency, the delinquents' living circumstances and their actual ability to pay. The team will operate for about five months, from July 1 to Nov. 30.
The district said it plans to carry out delinquency dispositions, such as seizing property and impounding vehicle license plates, against habitual delinquents who repeatedly fail to pay taxes despite having the ability to do so, as determined by the survey. By contrast, for hardship-related delinquents who find it difficult to pay taxes due to economic difficulties or other reasons, the district will apply approaches tailored to their circumstances, such as deferring license-plate impoundment and providing guidance on installment payments.
In particular, delinquents judged to be in need of welfare support will be referred to the relevant departments, in what the district describes as "resident-centered administration" that goes beyond mere collection to help stabilize their livelihoods. To this end, the district has already completed job training led by an invited expert instructor so that field surveyors can accurately identify those eligible for welfare and swiftly connect them to support.
Because small-sum delinquencies involve relatively small amounts, many are tied to residents in difficult circumstances, and it has been steadily pointed out that a uniform, seizure-focused collection approach alone is unlikely to be effective. Yeongjong-gu's choice of a method combining field surveys with welfare referrals is seen as an approach aimed at addressing such limitations.
A district official said, "This management team's operation aims to strengthen delinquency collection activities while at the same time providing tailored support to delinquents in economic difficulty, so we will make sure there is no negligence in warm-hearted administration that helps residents in need." The official added, "We will carefully examine delinquents' situations and do our utmost to ensure fair tax administration and to foster a healthy tax-paying culture."
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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