Democratic lawmaker introduces bill to bring AI into local tax collection

Seo Young-seok, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee representing Bucheon's Gap district, said Sunday he had introduced a bill to amend the Framework Act on Local Taxes to establish a legal basis for using AI and other intelligent information technologies in managing local tax delinquency.

Under current law, local governments operate information and communications networks to improve tax administration efficiency and taxpayer convenience. Seo said the growing complexity of the causes behind tax delinquency has exposed the limits of existing systems — which rely primarily on computerized processing and after-the-fact enforcement — in enabling proactive delinquency management.

The bill's core provision would explicitly authorize heads of local governments and local tax associations to use AI and other intelligent information technologies for delinquency prevention and collection management. It would also require local governments to take measures to protect taxpayers' personal information and privacy when deploying AI.

The bill additionally establishes a legal basis for the minister of the Ministry of Interior and Safety to provide financial and technical support, aiming to ensure all local governments can build a stable AI-based delinquency management system without technological disparities between jurisdictions.

According to a National Assembly Research Service report, outstanding local tax arrears reached 4.41 trillion won (about $2.88 billion) as of 2024, while the collection rate stood at just 28 percent. Some local governments have already begun piloting AI applications — the Seoul Metropolitan Government operates "IZY," the country's first AI chatbot dedicated to tax services, and Gyeonggi Province has been running a trial AI-based delinquency analysis service in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Safety — but nationwide adoption has remained limited.

"With the scale of delinquency growing every year, a workforce-centered approach alone has its limits," Seo said. "I will do my best to ensure this bill passes as soon as possible."