The Korean Economic Forum
Measuring Top Income Shares in Korea Using Income Tax Return Data
Myung-Ho Park (Korea Institute of Public Finance)Year 2016Vol. 9No. 2
Abstract
This paper re-estimates top incomes in Korea using detailed income tax returndata from 2007 to 2012. The mean-split histogram method is used as theinterpolation method. The new estimates indicate income distribution in Koreahas deteriorated since the global financial crisis, but conventional measures ofincome distribution, such as the Gini index, fail to capture this trend. Inaddition, the gaps between the new estimates using better data and the existingestimates in the WID are not negligible. These imply that more reliableestimates of top incomes measured using tax return data should supplement theconventional income distribution indexes.