Over 18 million South African workers paid the country’s taxman slightly over US$28 billion in personal taxes through the “pay as you earn” scheme in the 2018/19 financial year, official sources revealed on Thursday.
National Treasury said the South African Revenue Service (SARS) collected US$28.1 billion in tax revenue from 18.2 million employees last year, according to the latest available figures.
Personal income taxes make up South Africa’s largest source of tax revenue to the government, and contributed 38.3 percent of the total tax revenue collected in 2018/19.
This reflected a marginal increase in the contribution share of 38.1 percent for the tax collected in 2017/18, SARS said.
Most workers who paid the taxes received their income as salaries or wages, pension or annuity payments, and investment income, the agency added.
NM/jn/APA