South Africa’s Tax receipts are dwindling as the ongoing electricity challenges are taking a toll on companies. The country’s tax agency collected R1.686-trillion in taxes for the financial year that ended on 31 March, falling just shy of government’s R1.692-trillion estimate in the 2023 budget, data from the revenue service showed.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Monday that although mining volumes had decreased in the last year, higher commodity prices contributed significantly to improved tax receipts.
The main sources of revenue collection came from personal income tax at 35.7%, VAT at 25% and company income tax at 20.6%. The finance sector was by far the biggest contributor to tax revenues at 33.9%.
Sars said ongoing power cuts have had a “debilitating” effect on the economy and revenue collection, as it estimated that the outages contribute to potential tax revenue loss of R60-billion/year at a minimum.
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The South African Reserve Bank said last Thursday that it expected the domestic economy to grow by just 0.2% this year, a rate which Sars said will make it difficult to achieve collection targets for the year ahead.
The National treasury is targeting revenue collection of R1.787-trillion for the financial year to the end of next March.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry