SARS Tax statistics were released for 2023 in Dec and it is always sobering reading….
SARS Tax statistics were released for 2023 in Dec and it is always sobering reading….
It is probably not news to most, but it is worth highlighting some stats to keep it top of mind.
The massive numbers involved generally tend to overwhelm a reader and result in a lack of focus on the key takeaways.
So lets dive in:
These stats are revenue collected in the 2022/23 tax year
– R1.6 billion collected (this is 7.9% higher than last year and a CAGR of 7% since 2018/19);
— R602.2 billion (35.7%) collected from personal taxpayers (this includes Paye);
— R422.4 billion (25%) in net vat receipts from 477,782 active vat vendors
— R347.7 billion (20.6%) collected from 1,057,040 companies
So here is the scary stat.
432 large companies (taxable income of > than R200m) were responsible for 67.1% of company income tax receipts.
That is scary on its own, but when you consider that those companies probably employ a large majority of the personal tax payers and are responsible for a large majority of the vat receipts, you understand the extent of the concentrated nature of the South African economy.
When looking to solve a problem like this, you have to see what one or two changes has the biggest impact.
I.e. look for high leverage actions that produce big changes to move those growth numbers into double digit growth.
One of the highest impact changes has to be to support small businesses to scale and grow close to that profit range.
One new profitable business means more personal taxpayers paying tax, more vat receipts and more company income tax.
One change – 3 x leverage.
Link to the full media release – https://www.sars.gov.za/latest-news/media-release-tax-statistics-for-the-year-2023/