Government must deal with tax evasion to help improve service delivery and ensure a bigger fiscus for the country, the EFF said following the mid-term budget speech.
“Government should deal more with the issue of base erosion and capital shifting and transfer pricing because that is stealing millions of rands from South Africa...,” Economic Freedom Fighters Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu said.
“... and there is still no action in terms of these occurrences of tax evasion in South Africa.”
Shivambu was reacting to the mid-term budget speech delivered by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in Parliament.
He said government had to realise what was at its disposal and the true wealth of the country.
“Our position is that we need a government that will know what is at its disposal, what does it have particularly when it comes to natural and mineral resources, but nothing is being done in that regard. They pretend like everything is fine while there is a crisis of resource theft and tax avoidance,” he said.
Shivambu added that in its attempt to rectify the wrongs of the past and bring stability to the economy, the government was failing to realise that the challenges facing the people of South Africa were related to the ownership of mines and businesses.
“The South African government is failing to recognise that the challenges of South Africa are structural problems that speaks to the ownership and control of the economy,” he said.
He added that the lack of control on mines and means of production hampered government's ability to deliver services. He said there was no real increment on what was available to improve the living condition of the people.
“We have lots of mineral resources that can be utilised for that purpose but what was presented here is just the continuation of the neo-liberal capitalist project which is not helping,” he said.
Sapa