SARS wants to catch tax dodgers

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says he is determined to catch tax dodgers as SARS tries to collect more than R1trn this year. Image: GCIS

SARS tabled its strategic plan for the next three years in Parliament, emphasising that compliance was at the core of its strategy.

Nene said that the receiver's goal was to collect almost R1-trillion in revenue in the current tax season adding that the implementation of "efficiencies", such as a single tax registration point, would help SARS reach its targets.

Nene told Parliament's finance portfolio committee that South Africa's economy was growing at a moderate pace.

"It also continues to perform below its potential. Our projections have always been changing, but the accurate number will only come when we table our medium-term budget policy statement," said Nene.

He said labour unrest and other factors were hurting South Africa's economy, but government had taken these risks into account in its planning.

The authorities had - under his predecessor Pravin Gordhan - announced an "expenditure ceiling".

"We want to handle the finances of the country in a responsible manner," he said. "That amounts to fiscal consolidation that would ensure that with few resources, even if those risks continue to strangle us, we are in a position to meet our developmental challenges with moderate growth in expenditure," said Nene.

He said government would shift the focus of expenditure into areas such as investment and reduce public spending that did not yield economic and social returns.

Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge