GRAFT
HILARY JOFFE: Heading for the tax morality high ground
The annual gathering of the tax community at 2017’s Tax Indaba was opened, unusually, by both Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane — a measure, perhaps, of how challenging it is for the government to collect the tax revenue it was expecting. Gigaba expressed confidence that the economy was picking up after coming out of recession in the second quarter. SARS clearly sees economic "green shoots", and Moyane expressed confidence that he would meet his revenue targets. But the standout numbers at the indaba on Monday came from SARS itself, which revealed just how steeply compliance levels have fallen over the past five years. The trend suggests it will take much more than a modest cyclical upswing in the economy to turn the public finances around.There are the "good" taxpayers who always comply, the "bad" ones who never do, and what SARS head of research Randall Carolissen calls the "missing middle", who are good most of the tim...
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