REVENUE COLLECTION
HILARY JOFFE: Great show, but magic will eventually fail
The dividends were a welcome windfall, but it was a windfall that should have raised red flags immediately
South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane is clearly feeling defensive about what he sees as attacks on the agency’s integrity and effectiveness, so let me emphasise that this column is not about him personally or about SARS. I am as happy as the next person to congratulate and thank our revenue service’s 14,500 people for hitting the 2016-17 revenue target. I understand they worked extremely hard and they finally raked in enough cash to make the target only by 10pm on the night of March 31, just before the fiscal year ended at midnight. However, a closer look at how that target was reached raises disturbing questions about tax trends — and about whether the government will be able to deliver on its budget promises. Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan had already revised down his original 2016-17 revenue estimates in October and again in February by a cumulative R30bn. Then came February, in which tax collections tanked — a double-digit contraction in customs r...
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