National tax revenues dropped by over two trillion won on-year in May to bring the cumulative decrease in collected taxes for the January-to-May period to over 36 trillion won, or around 27 billion U.S. dollars.

According to data from the finance ministry on Friday, the national tax income last month fell two-point-five trillion won, bringing the five-month cumulation to 160-point-two trillion won, down 36-point-four trillion won on-year.

The biggest drop was in the corporate tax category, with one-point-five trillion won less in taxes collected due to reduced operating profits by small- to medium-sized enterprises. The cumulative reduction over the five-month period rose to 17-point-three trillion won.

Income tax revenue fell by 700 billion won, with the January-to-May yield dropping nine-point-six trillion won.

The ministry attributed the fall largely to a drop in capital gains taxes with a slowdown in housing transactions, leading to an overall drop in the collection of the composite income tax.

While the five-month reduction in value-added taxes stayed at three-point-eight trillion won from a year earlier, the combined on-year reduction of corporate, income and value-added taxes reached 30-point-seven trillion won.