Thoughts on the Abolition of Taxation in People’s Korea-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

 

In the last few weeks I received both my Council Tax bill and my Water bill . Both had increased , with council tax going up by 5 percent and the water bill by 10 per cent .I often wonder what council tax is for because we already paid income tax and VAT . Do the local councillors just pocket the money or something ?

I could not help but reflect on the situation in People's Korea which on the 21st of March 1974 abolished taxation through the Law on the Complete Abolition of Taxation , which had been proposed by the great leader President KIM IL SUNG and passed by the Supreme People’s Assembly . 

 President KIM IL SUNG said that “To abolish the tax system is a revolution to free the working people from these vestiges and a great change to meet the centuries-old desire of the people.

The system of taxation which came into being with the emergence of the state, has been used in a class society for thousands of years as a means of preserving the ruling machine of the governing classes and plundering the working people."

 The above quotation I think gives a very useful definition of the true nature of taxation and its role . It is basically to maintain the feudal and capitalist ruling state machine .It actually has nothing to do with socialism .

 The idea of abolishing taxation in the DPRK had been first mooted in 1961 at the 4th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea . In the period 1964 -1966 , the agricultural tax in kind was abolished, freeing the farmers of People’s Korea from the burden of taxation . The only taxes that remained in the DPRK were income tax and local autonomy tax . In December 1972 the ‘Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ‘ was adopted . Article 33 of the Socialist Constitution clearly stipulated that “ The state abolishes taxation , a hangover of the old society ‘. So in 1974 taxation was completely abolished in the DPRK.

  In fact in the DPRK taxes were actually only a small percentage of state revenue .According to the book ‘Korean Review’ 1974 edition , taxation only accounted for 2 per cent of state revenue in the DPRK.Funding for public expenditure in the DPRK is provided by the revenues from state owned industry in the DPRK. The DPRK has been able to constantly increase public spending but at the same time maintain a small budgetary surplus . People in the DPRK enjoy a high level of benefits such as free housing and virtually free food. This shows the true superiority of Juche-based socialism and the vitality of the Juche idea which is a correct guideline for building socialism .

It is worth pointing out that at the same time as the DPRK abolished taxation it also cut prices by 30 per cent on average and some items were reduced in cost by 50 per cent .Just compare this to the continually increasing prices in the UK .

 The DPRK is truly a tax free socialist paradise 

Dr Dermot Hudson ,

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK 

Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea .

President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK.

Chairman British Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula.

Hon Secretary General International Central Committee for Songun Study