Deputy Speaker, allow me to table the Standing Committee on Finance Report on Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and Tax Administration Amendment Bill as tabled by the Minister of Finance in the February tabling of the Budget.
These Bills are legal instruments for the SA Revenue Service, Sars, to collect and administer revenue. The SA Revenue Service is charged with the responsibility to collect and administer revenue through the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act and other applicable tax legislation.
We present these reports against the background of the challenges of the collection of revenue. Revenue collection has not kept pace with economic growth. The economy is now expected to grow by just 0,5%, compared with 1,5% forecast at the time of the 2019 Budget tabling. Weak economic growth resulted in repeated revenue shortfalls, higher budget deficits and mounting government debt. We have challenges of state-owned enterprises, SOEs, regarding bailouts. This is the matter that the committee has observed and we request the Minister to attend to this issue.
Other factors contributing to the poor revenue performance has to deal with the poor employment outlook with job losses, lower wage settlement, smaller bonuses and reduced personal income tax collection.
On The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill [B17- 2019], on 3 September 2019, National Treasury and Sars briefed the committee on this Bill. The committee received submissions from different industries including the tobacco industry which complained about the high excise duties.
However, because we have a campaign to reduce smoking, the Treasury started its projection of the excise duty increase. We also want to raise the problem of "no refund" shops where government is not able to collect revenue. There are also a lot of counterfeit goods which are dumped here in South Africa, through that; we are not able to raise revenue. The other Bill that has been tabled by the Minister is the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill [B18-2019].
The Bill is about the reviewing of the tax treatment of the surviving spouses' pension. This amendment seeks to relieve the surviving spouses of additional tax liability and to alleviate the financial burden.
The reviewing of allowable deductions for investors in a Venture Capital Company, VCC, and the refinement of the Employment Incentive Scheme also the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, the amendments of Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill are technical corrections of the Income Tax Act of 1962; the Customs and Excise Act of 1964; the Skills Development Levies Act of 1999.
All of this is done to align time periods for a refund under this Act to the Tax Administration Act of 2011; and the Tax Administration Act of 2011. The committee supports and request the House to approve the Bills. Hon Speaker, I move for the adoption. Thank you.