Tax feature: Judge Dennis Davis proposes lifestyle audits on wealthy South Africans

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The Davis Tax committee submitted a number of reports on the tax gap to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter in December. Its mandate, when its term of office was extended by Mboweni in February 2019, was to examine the tax gap and come up with proposals on how to close it. A "tax gap" is the difference between what is legitimately owed in taxes versus what is actually collected by the revenue service. It is the result of "tax evasion", which is the illegal practice of not paying all the tax you would legally owe if audited to the letter of the law.
Not the yawning tax deficit which is the result of the sluggish economy, runaway government spending and other factors…It is utterly uncontroversial for revenue services to go after tax dodgers, and every reasonably functional government in the world does this to varying extents. Despite this, the suggestion to audit wealthy taxpayers to close the gap has gone down like a lead balloon in the leafy northern suburbs of Johannesburg and southern suburbs of Cape Town…. Michael Avery spoke to Judge Dennis Davis, about the detail of the Committee’s suggestion
12 Jan 2021 11AM English South Africa Business · Investing

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