<\/p>\n
SA Institute of Taxation Chief Executive Professor Keith Engel said improving economic growth and employment would be critical to increasing government revenue over the long term. \u201cThe real issue has been, for quite some time, that we need to expand the tax base,\u201d Engel said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way to expand the tax base is not through law, but through better enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Engel said the SA Revenue Service (SARS) was primarily responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing existing legislation. However, increasing employment and economic activity required action beyond the revenue authority\u2019s mandate. \u201cThe revenue service is about collecting,\u201d Engel said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the big issue is how we get this economy going again and how we use government to produce jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SARS is strengthening collection through digital systems, third-party information and investigations into wealth that taxpayers have not disclosed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Greater access to information allows the revenue authority to compare tax declarations with financial and other records, helping to identify potential non-compliance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Engel argued that stronger enforcement could generate additional revenue without placing a heavier tax burden on taxpayers already complying with the law.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Expanding employment would also increase the number of people paying personal income tax while supporting consumption and business activity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Engel criticised government\u2019s approach to economic growth, saying increased spending and regulation were not producing enough employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, government is stuck on spending more, more regulation and more political grandstanding,\u201d Engel said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–SABC\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44338,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-45342","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa (SA) should expand the number of taxpayers through stronger enforcement and job creation instead of imposing substantial new tax increases, the SA Institute of Taxation says.","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africa (SA) should expand the number of taxpayers through stronger enforcement and job creation instead of imposing substantial new tax increases, the SA Institute of Taxation says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45343,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45342\/revisions\/45343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}