National Treasury and SARS published the 18th edition of the Tax Statistics for 2024/25, revealing who contributes to the country’s record tax take, reports Cape {town} Etc.
According to BusinessTech, SARS collected R2.3 trillion in gross revenue for 2024/25 and netted about R1.9 trillion after refunds, up 6.6% year on year.
Personal Income Tax made up R733.2 billion, or roughly 40% of total tax receipts.
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The figures show that tax revenue is drawn from a relatively small group. SARS lists 26.2 million registered individual taxpayers, but only 9.15 million actively submit returns – around 14.5% of the population.
Assessed taxpayers, along with the highest average taxable incomes, are dominated by men over 35 living in Gauteng, particularly in Johannesburg.
Gauteng alone accounts for 38% of registered taxpayers and nearly half of personal income tax.
Western Cape (which includes Cape Town) accounts for around 17% of assessed taxpayers, based on earlier SARS releases and tabular provincial data.
Males earn more than females in almost every category. Less than a third of South African females earn over 1 million.
For many readers this will explain why conversations about tax fairness and public services have sharpened.
SARS attributed part of the rise to stronger compliance programmes, provisional tax growth and higher PAYE in key sectors.
‘The broad rise in revenue can also be attributed to enhanced strategies and diligent implementation of compliance measures,’ SARS said.
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