Chairperson, I would like to follow the hon Marais in commending the process through which these Bills were dealt with and in this regard I would like to congratulate and thank the chairperson of our committee, hon Nene, who deserves praise for the phase of public consultation and the manner in which he handled affairs of that committee.
I must also mention the positive and professional role played by Treasury and the South African Revenue Service officials who briefed us, and who commented in great detail on proposals contained in the public submissions. While they had their instructions, they tried their best to be accommodating and in many instances accepted public advice and our recommendations. The final Bill, Chairperson, is certainly a much better piece of legislation because of their diligence.
The IFP will support both the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill and the Securities Transfer Tax Bill. I want to highlight just four areas where our initial concerns have been successfully addressed. Firstly, we welcome the reduction in the Secondary Tax on Companies to 10%, although we hope that the hon Minister will be able to announce further reductions in the next budget.
Secondly, we support the increased depreciation allowances for buildings and infrastructure, including port assets used for transport purposes. Thirdly, we welcome the tax exemption on accommodation provided to foreign workers by local employers. To have done away with this exemption, or to have limited it severely would have placed the ability of local employers to attract skilled foreigners at risk at a time when our economy desperately needs the skills that they bring.
Fourthly, we are particularly pleased that the original intention to subject public benefit organisations to the skills development levy has been dropped. We know that this would have placed pressure on available funding for public benefit organisations and might have done more harm than good. We agree with Treasury and Sars that more research into this matter is required.
As I indicated earlier, we support both the Bills. Thank you Chairperson.