He added that for the first time in 15 years, revenue exceeded non-interest spending. SARS is further focusing its investigations on both taxpayers and syndicates, added Kieswetter.<\/p>\n
Tax Consulting SA said that despite there being no increase in personal income tax rates for 2023\/24, the taxman is still focused on a small pool of taxpayers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the major issue of government overindebtedness is not being addressed through increased tax revenue collections.<\/p>\n “SARS’ revenue collection was ahead of its own projections, which alone does not address the steadily increasing debt burden,” it said. “We are simply not making sufficient progress in resolving this issue.”<\/p>\n Tax Consulting SA said that the government’s reliance on personal income tax is still concerningly high, as it has been for years, with an ever-decreasing tax base<\/strong>. By Kieswetter’s own admission earlier in February, the country lost over 6,000 taxpayers to emigration in 2022.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, this means that there being no increase in the personal income tax brackets will not decrease the burden on wealthy taxpayers,” said Tax Consulting SA.<\/p>\n “In addition, SARS is anticipated to strengthen oversight measures in respect of these individuals to improve collection<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n The firm said that provisional allocations had been set aside for the improvement of SARS’ revenue-collecting capacity, with a direct allocation for its capital and information and communication technology projects.<\/p>\n Summarily, the new proposals set forth in this year’s budget do not necessarily bode well for the country in the short- to medium-term.<\/p>\n With many of the measures introduced being geared at minimising the strain on taxpayers across different segments of South Africa, perhaps taxpayers are somewhat happy with what they have heard in the budget.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, it seems that the government is still treating the symptoms rather than the disease, the firm said.<\/p>\n Tax brackets<\/strong><\/p>\n In light of the latest budget speech, finance minister Enoch Godongwana adjusted the applicable personal income tax brackets.<\/p>\n Tax brackets are expected to be fully adjusted by 4.9% – providing some relief to South African taxpayers.<\/p>\n The minister further noted that adjusted in terms of inflation, the tax-free threshold has been pushed from R91,250 to R95,750.<\/p>\n From a fiscal policy standpoint, Godongwana did not institute any major tax proposals in the budget.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Tax-brackets-202324.png\")
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