Unprecedented tax collapse endangers post-Covid recovery
POSTED ON: May 14, 2020 IN Mediaby Tania Ajam and Dennis Davis
The serious economic impact of the lockdown policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic has understandably generated substantial policy debate in the media and in academia. Conspicuously absent from most of these discussions is an acknowledgement of an imminent tax collapse, which is not only unprecedented in modern South African fiscal history, but also poses huge economic challenges for the country.
In a report to Parliament on 5 May 2020, Edward Kieswetter, the commissioner of the South Africa Revenue Services (SARS), estimates that revenue losses of 15 to 20% of tax revenue are anticipated, amounting to R285-billion in fiscal year 2020/21. This is roughly in line with forecasts by the Bureau of Economic Research of R280-billion.
Read the full article here: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-05-14-unprecedented-tax-collapse-endangers-post-covid-recovery/
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A network of economists supporting efforts to address the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa