South Korea's tax revenue increased 41 trillion won ($28.8 billion) in the first eight months of this year compared with a year earlier as the collection of corporate and income taxes rose, the finance ministry said Thursday.

Tax revenue amounted to 289.3 trillion won in the January-August period, compared with 248.2 trillion won the previous year, according to the ministry.

In August alone, the government collected 28.3 trillion won in tax revenue, up 3.7 trillion won from a year ago.

South Korea has seen a surplus in tax revenue as Asia's fourth-largest economy has recovered from the fallout of the pandemic.

In the first eight months, the nation collected corporate taxes of 82.5 trillion won, up 27.7 trillion won from a year earlier, as corporate earnings increased. The collection of income taxes also rose 11.9 trillion won on-year to 91.1 trillion won.

The collection of value-added taxes rose 4.2 trillion won to 58.3 trillion won, due largely to increased private spending and imports.

But the collection of stock transaction taxes fell 2.6 trillion won to 4.7 trillion won due to sluggish stock markets.

The ministry forecast the collection of national taxes to reach 397 trillion won this year, up 15.4 percent from last year.

Next year, the government's tax revenue is likely to amount to 400.5 trillion won.

In June, the finance ministry unveiled its sweeping tax cut plan that is focused on lowering corporate, income and property taxes.

With the tax reform, the government aims to encourage firms to spur investment and reduce the tax burden on people troubled by high inflation. (Yonhap)