Budget 2017
REVENUE COLLECTION: Almost in a perfect storm
Sars is closing in on wealthy taxpayers with undisclosed offshore assets, as well as multinationals that try to game the system, but the fact remains that the heaviest burden falls on individual taxpayers. How much longer can they stand it?
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan dished up a tough budget. But it still leaves the SA Revenue Service with the daunting task of raking in an additional R121bn in gross tax receipts. It is a big ask in an economic environment where tax collection remains an uphill battle. Reflecting this are preliminary fiscal 2016/2017 figures released by national treasury, which reveal that tax collections of R1.144trillion fell R30bn (7%) short of the R1.174trillion targeted in the budget speech Gordhan delivered in February last year. The shortfall was also higher than the estimate of R23bn contained in the medium-term budget policy statement in October. It was a repeat of tax receipt shortfalls in the two previous fiscal years. In 2015/2016 tax collections came in R11.6bn (1.1%) short of the R1.081trillion first budgeted, while in 2014/2015 tax collected fell R14.65bn (1.5%) short of the R979bn targeted. In fiscal 2017/2018 Gordhan is looking to personal taxes to do the heavy lifting, with receip...
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