South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Tom Moyane says that no effort will be spared to achieve the revenue targets projected for the 2017\/2018 financial year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Africa depends on the 14,000 SARS officials who have consistently delivered on very tough revenue estimates every year,” Moyane said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“We have put in place the necessary regional revenue management structures to track taxpayer compliance down to granular level and the results are proving to be positive.”<\/p>\n
The commissioner\u2019s commitment follows finance minister Malusi Gigaba\u2019s announcement during his Budget Speech on Wednesday that government has upped the ante on the anticipated revenue that has to be collected.<\/p>\n
The revenue collection authority will have to collect a total of R1 214.7 billion to R1 217.3 billion for the State\u2019s coffers by the end of March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a marginal increase of R2.6 billion and stems from improved company and trade taxes collected since the last quarter of 2017,\u201d said the commissioner.<\/p>\n
Moyane said the revenue authority was committed to maximising revenue collection for government\u2019s development agenda, despite the lacklustre economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSA\u2019s sovereign debt levels have increased to 53.3% of GDP. The cost of servicing this large debt of R163.2 billion, one of the fastest growing line items on the government expenditure framework, is stripping away revenue from much needed social imperatives faced by our nation,\u201d said Moyane.<\/p>\n
He said the fiscal stability of the country was ultimately dependent on the ability of SARS to collect all revenue due to the fiscus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working much smarter with greater intensity to close any revenue gaps and leakages,\u201d said Moyane.<\/p>\n