Tax revenue collection has not recovered much from the 2009 economic slump, SA Revenue Service (Sars) spokesman Adrian Lackay said on Monday.
Lackay and a Sars team released the latest tax statistics in Parliament.
They showed that R742.6 billion rand in revenue was collected in 2011/12, almost R4bn higher than Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan predicted in his February budget speech.
However, the tax-to-GDP ratio had remained stagnant compared to the figures in 2009, when business and profits in the country were constrained by the global economic crisis.
“The tax-to-GDP ratio in 2008 bordered below 28 percent, went down to 24.5 percent the following year, and is now sitting at 24.6 percent,” said Lackay.
This meant companies were still reeling from the after-effects of the constrained economic activity which followed the downturn. - Sapa