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Like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Korean Internal Revenue Service (KIRS) has implemented many changes to improve customer satisfaction since 1999. However, the Customer Satisfaction Index for KIRS services was low when compared with that of private companies. Therefore, it is important that the KIRS identify which dimensions of its services have an impact on its customers’ satisfaction. In this regard, the objectives of this study are: (1) to categorize KIRS services into a smaller number of dimensions; and (2) to find which dimensions have a significant effect on customer satisfaction. Data were collected using questionnaires filled out by staff accountants in tax preparation firms in Korea, and 322 questionnaires were analyzed by structural equation modeling using LISREL. Analysis of data showed that the respondents evaluated KIRS services in terms of seven dimensions: Politeness, Service by Telephone/Fax, Accuracy/Quickness, Easiness of Requesting Services, Cleanness of Office, Accommodation, and Equitable Service. Therefore, the current approach of the KIRS, which has developed diagnostic tools without identifying the dimensions of its services, needs to be changed. Also, the three dimensions (Equitable Service, Politeness, and Accuracy/Quickness) had significantly positive impacts on customer satisfaction. This result implies that the KIRS may need to focus its efforts more on these three dimensions, rather than on all dimensions of its services. In addition, because of the similarities in the changes of the KIRS and those of the IRS, the findings of this study may be applied to improving some parts of the IRS.

This paper examines associations of mass media and information and communications technologies (ICTs) with inequality and poverty. It has been found that newspaper circulation has a robust negative association with inequality. Radios and TVs also have a negative association with poverty. ICT expenditures (as a percentage of GDP) have a negative association with poverty. An ICT index is constructed which also has a negative association with poverty. An instrumental variable analysis confirms the robust negative association between newspaper circulation and inequality.