지방세 고액체납자 감치 제도에 대한 고찰

In 2021, a new system of detention was introduced for high-amount tax delinquents as a form of indirect collection under the Local Tax Collection Act. The purpose of this system is to allow the government to detain malicious tax delinquents—those with the ability to pay who willfully avoid paying large amounts of tax without a valid reason—in a detention center for up to 30 days. This detention system is already in operation under various laws, including the Regulatory Act on Misdemeanors, the Civil Execution Act, the Family Litigation Act, and the Courts Organization Act. The legislative intent behind this new measure is to strengthen tax collection from high-amount delinquents by applying a similar system. This study examines the nature and issues of the detention system as a means of collecting delinquent taxes from high-amount defaulters and seeks to explore potential improvements to protect taxpayers’ rights and enhance collection effectiveness. According to this study, while the detention system was introduced to collect high-amount delinquent taxes, it has not yet become well-established in actual collection practice. The reasons for this include its inherent limitations, as it is difficult for a local government to implement on its own, and the fact that collection results through detention have not been significant. The detention system could function as an effective means of compulsory execution in the local tax sector if it is used not merely as a sanction against simple delinquents but specifically for acts of local tax evasion through the deliberate concealment of assets. Notably, since the subjects of detention can include the representative directors of corporations, there is a need to actively explore using detention as a collection tool for corporations that abuse trust schemes or conceal assets under the names of third parties to evade local taxes. This study proposes the following improvements for the detention system as a tax collection measure: First, it is necessary to establish detention criteria that are tailored to the characteristics of local tax delinquency, as the scale and causes of high-amount delinquencies differ from those of national taxes. Second, the requirements and procedural regulations of the detention system should be clarified, and operational standards must be strengthened to prevent potential misuse. Third, given that the purpose of the detention system is collection through the disclosure of concealed assets, it is essential to substantially strengthen the asset investigation functions. The detention system should be applied selectively based on strengthened, specific criteria and utilized as a supplementary means to encourage collection. To this end, efforts are needed to create detailed operational manuals for local governments to determine the application of detention and to standardize enforcement criteria.