Sars is set to be R215 billion short by the end of this tax year

[Jopie Fourie]

A widening tax shortfall is going to blow another hole in state finances – and ultimately leave ordinary people poorer.

Every tax year since April 2014, Sars has fallen short of the tax collection target set by National Treasury in the prior year's Budget Speech.

Experts are now forecasting a record shortfall for the tax year ending March 2020 of as much as R60 billion, bringing the accumulated tax miss over the past 6 years to over R215 billion.

Figures from the National Treasury released at the end of September show that Sars collected 3.1% more tax during the first 5 months of the tax year compared to the same period in 2018.

However, to meet finance minister Tito Mboweni's February Budget Speech target for the full tax year of R1.422 trillion requires 10.4% more in tax, which means Sars is 7.3 percentage points off the pace.

Here are six ways Sars' failure to collect enough tax is likely to make you poorer:

- You can expect more tax, soon.
- Government debt will cost you, eventually.
- Interest rates will rise if SA's credit rating drops any farther.
- Fuel, food, and imported consumer goods will become more expensive.
- Electricity prices will go even higher.
- There will be even fewer jobs.

Sars is set to be R215 billion short by the end of this tax year – here are six ways that will make you poorer | Businessinsider

The failure to collect enough tax is going to haunt consumers in coming years. Here's what that will look like.

www.businessinsider.co.za

 

[Jopie Fourie]

If this happens in South Africa:

Here are six ways Sars' failure to collect enough tax is likely to make you poorer:

- You can expect more tax, soon.
- Government debt will cost you, eventually.
- Interest rates will rise if SA's credit rating drops any farther.
- Fuel, food, and imported consumer goods will become more expensive.
- Electricity prices will go even higher.
- There will be even fewer jobs.

Consumers will be forced to spend less, companies will generate lesser income, more retrenchments set to take place, fewer people contributing towards taxes, more tax payers will flee the country and next year we will see a tax shortfall of double this figure, if not more.

Governments' best option now stay afloat will be to cut on grants and start sorting Eskom and other SOE's with that money.

 

[The_Librarian]

En wie moet ons bedank? ANC, die ANC.

 

[Hamster]

/waits for government bonuses to be paid out

 

[Arthur]

R215b short? No problem, SARS. Just tax us more.

 

[Vrotappel]

Click bait headline.

 

[quovadis]

R215b short? No problem, SARS. Just tax us more.

If they hike income tax they'll have even more people actively trying to avoid tax. If they hike VAT they'll have to deal with the public outrage across the board. They can't possibly tax corporate SA anymore as more jobs will be shed. So, the only practical solution is to cut expenses - so either health, education or social programs. I'm betting on health as they'll fill the gap that leaves with the private healthcare coffers.

 

[Vrotappel]

Experts are now forecasting a record shortfall for the tax year ending March 2020 of as much as R60 billion, bringing the accumulated tax miss over the past 6 years to over R215 billion.

Why choose 6 years?

 

[The_Librarian]

Governments' best option now stay afloat will be to cut on grants and start sorting Eskom and other SOE's with that money.

I so wish.

Unfortunately, should they start to cut grants, the hoi polloi will grab their torches and pitchforks.

Whose daft idea was these social grants anyway? All it does is to encourage them to have babies.

 

[Jabulani22]

Only ?

 

[Temujin]

Governments' best option now stay afloat will be to cut on grants and start sorting Eskom and other SOE's with that money.

Nope. Foot needs to go down. Currently, there is no need for them to sort themselves out as will always get a bail out. Need to put an end to it. Increases etc too, nersa needs to say no, end of story. Fix your ****, come back when you've prosecuted and got all the looted money back, then we can talk, until then, **** off. If that means complete collapse, so be it, there is no other option, can't continue bailing out thieves until the end of time, collapse it all, start from scratch

 

[Jopie Fourie]

I so wish.

Unfortunately, should they start to cut grants, the hoi polloi will grab their torches and pitchforks.

Whose daft idea was these social grants anyway? All it does is to encourage them to have babies.

I cannot help but wonder what the ANC will do the day there is not enough money to pay all grants. I am pretty sure that they will be forced to just print banknotes, if this is not already happening. It will not surprise me in the least if such headline starts making the rounds one day.

Nonetheless, I agree, if they do stop or cut grants, the EFF will probably have any easy road to taking over from the ANC.

 

[Jopie Fourie]

Nope. Foot needs to go down. Currently, there is no need for them to sort themselves out as will always get a bail out. Need to put an end to it. Increases etc too, nersa needs to say no, end of story. Fix your ****, come back when you've prosecuted and got all the looted money back, then we can talk, until then, **** off. If that means complete collapse, so be it, there is no other option, can't continue bailing out thieves until the end of time, collapse it all, start from scratch

Won't happen.

 

[BBSA]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1185609804674453504

 

[Jopie Fourie]

Why choose 6 years?

I suspect this is when the country started facing projected revenue shortfalls, year over year, which will not enable them to meet obligations. Although there were an increase in revenue collections, the problem is that they did not generate the amounts required to keep the country afloat.

While SARS suspects a R60bn shortfall this year, a recent article on Moneyweb estimates this shortfall to be close to R100bn. I tend to believe the latter. In fact, personally, I believe the real shortfall this year to exceed R400bn, if not more.

 

[Techne]

Maths and economics decolonization is near completion.

 

[Hansolo]

Must be the mass exodus of all that "evil colonial" WMC, tsk-tsk. :0(

 

[VooDooC]

Increase tax, more people leave, bigger shortfall... And around and around we go!

But we have a good story to tell hey

 

[Techne]

Either South African culture is based on SJW anti-meritocracy BS and there is something inherent in it that prevents the cream of the crop to rise to the top and lead properly or....

Or both... then we are fxed.