Speaker, the ACDP welcomes the introduction of this Bill. Effective revenue collection is essential for any government to meet its socioeconomic priorities such as health care, education, infrastructure, employment and growth. This Bill deals only with matters related to tax administration and, as pointed out by the Minister, balances the powers and duties of Sars with the rights and obligations of the taxpayer and thereby enhances equity and fairness of tax administration. Nobody likes paying tax, but we all undoubtedly derive the benefits from revenue collection and it will be a preliminary step to the rewriting of the Income Tax Act.
We, as the ACDP, look forward to a simplified and harmonised system which will benefit Sars and taxpayers. We are also aware that the majority of the taxpayers are tax compliant. However, there is still a minority who seek to evade tax or defraud the government. Tax evasion, as we know, undermines the morale of compliant taxpayers and places an unfair burden on compliant taxpayers if not counted effectively. Therefore we as the ACDP agree that Sars needs stricter enforcement powers to target increasingly sophisticated tax evaders. We must increase the tax net.
This Bill will also allow generally compliant taxpayers to be subjected to less stringent measures and to be given better service while tax invaders will face stricter enforcement, assessment and collection powers. The ACDP will be closely studying the provisions of this Bill.