The president who says he can't pay taxes because he doesn't have money really doesn't have money?
In SBS 'I want to know' broadcast on the 21st, under the subtitle 'The President's Strange Lawsuit - Article 38 of the Constitution and Hidden Money', the former chairman of the Shin Dong-a Group, Choi Soon-young, traced the situation of unconscionable and habitual delinquents through the lawsuit.
In March, investigators from the Seoul 38 Tax Collection Department visited a luxury villa in Yangjae-dong, Seoul. It was found that a delinquent person living in a detached villa of about 3 billion won has been in arrears on about 3.9 billion won of local taxes in Seoul since 1999.
His excuse that he couldn't pay his taxes because he didn't have money seemed untrue. A large amount of cash and precious metals were found in a luxury villa, and it was confirmed that a profit of 3.5 billion won was made by selling expensive paintings in his wife's name. But the delinquent's wife made an absurd excuse saying that she didn't have the money to pay the tax. The 38 Tax Collection Division confiscated their property.
And a month later, a lawsuit was filed over the art pieces seized from the delinquent's home. The delinquent's wife and children filed a lawsuit against the delinquent, claiming ownership of the confiscated art, and the disposition of delinquency was stopped. In fact, it was a family claim to delinquent confiscated items to avoid tax collection. In response, an investigator from the 38th Tax Collection Division said, "We have hired a lot of lawyers. It costs a lot to hire a lawyer, but I wondered how good it would be if I used that money to pay my taxes."
So who is the delinquent in this strange lawsuit? He was the former chairman of Shin Dong-A Group, Choi Soon-Young. And they did something similar 8 years ago. Even at the time, he refused to pay taxes, saying he was unfair. Chairman Choi was on the top of the list of habitual delinquents for the 16th year in arrears with about 100 billion won in tax arrears.
Choi Soon-young inherited her father's family business and became the group owner in her 30s. In particular, he reached his heyday by constructing the 63 Building, a symbol of Korea's economic development, in Yeouido.
However, he was later arrested in February 1999 on charges of smuggling foreign currency, embezzlement, and fraud. And he was found guilty of a crime and was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 150 billion won, which led to the collapse of the Shindong-A group. Choi, who was imprisoned after losing his position as the head of a large corporation, was released as a special special envoy for Liberation Day in 2008. But the taxes he owed to the state remained the same. His arrears are about 157.4 billion won in fines, 103.4 billion won in national taxes, and 3.9 billion won in local taxes.
Although the group has been lost, former Chairman Choi, who still uses a high-end private car for an emergency villa, seems to have no intention of paying the tax until now.
The production team inquired about the reason that he, who is in arrears in taxes of hundreds of billions, really doesn't have enough money to pay taxes. And it was difficult to hear the story of his second son. His son claimed that they became delinquents and that the decisive reason for the dissolution of the Shindong-A Group was political retaliation caused by President Kim Dae-jung's failure to pay the election funds when he was preparing for the presidential election.
And the production team met the informant who knew the Choi family well. He claimed that Choi was accumulating wealth through religious corporations.
The H Foundation Center is located only 100 meters from the luxurious villa where Choi and his two sons live. It was established when former Chairman Choi was working in the Shindong-A Group. He established the foundation using company money and served as the chairman of the foundation, and the chairman was passed down to his two sons.
Also, the informant claimed that the K missionary organization was established for the purpose of accumulating their profits. He insisted, "I built it for myself. It can be said that he used the Korean church thoroughly." And members of missionary organizations raised suspicions that the company's money was not transparently disclosed where and how it was used.
It turns out that the luxurious villa Choi lives in is a training center for the H Religious Foundation. An official of the H Religious Foundation responded with a stern reaction and said that the situation of former Chairman Choi was pitiful and he allowed the house to be used for recognition. And the K missionary organization also took a similar position, stating that the religious corporation had never given any financial help to the Choi family. And the position of former Chairman Choi was not very different from what the foundation said.
The production team learned something new during the interview. The fact that there is a land owned by Choi's wife next to the land owned by the H Foundation. A real estate official said that the land had been owned since the Shin Dong-A group was there, and he recently tried to sell it through the foundation.
In addition, the H Religious Foundation Center has been leasing a building to a church since 2009, and the amount of money received in the name of rent amounted to 73.2 billion won. If you consider the assets disclosed in the articles of incorporation of the H Religious Foundation, the size of the assets amounts to 180 billion won.
If so, would the Choi family have no intention of paying taxes? Choi's second son said, "Let's say you have 1 billion won. If you pay 1 billion won, the local tax is reduced. But you have to pay the gift tax again. If you don't pay the gift tax, you have arrears. What does it mean to pay?" he asked.
Unlike the majority of citizens who faithfully pay taxes in accordance with Article 38 of the Constitution, there were many long-term unconscionable delinquents, other than former Chairman Choi, who avoided paying taxes in various ways. Is there any way to stop them?
A delinquent person in his 70s who has been delinquent in paying local tax of 230 million won for 10 years. He complained of injustice to the 38 Tax Collection Division investigators. Also, when asked about the property in front of his wife, the delinquent raised his voice. A delinquent person who was found to have moved property in his wife's name before the tax was levied claimed that he could not pay the tax, even if he went to jail, and said that the tax collection was unfair.
Since 2001, the amount of arrears collected in cases investigated by the 38 Tax Collection Division of Seoul has reached a whopping KRW 3.57 trillion. As the Seoul 38 Tax Collection Division achieved great results, other local governments also benchmarked Seoul.
However, despite their activities, the delinquents also became more sophisticated and sophisticated with each passing day. In response, the National Tax Service recently announced that it is also looking at virtual currencies. He also explained that by amending the National Tax Collection Act in 2019, a new system for habitual delinquents of large amounts is being implemented. However, it was found that this system was still applied only to some taxes, so it was determined that institutional improvement was necessary in the future.
(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jeong)