The South African Revenue Services' (SARS) breakthrough towards its long-talked-of autonomy in the Revenue Services Bill, due for debate in Parliament in August, has passed largely unnoticed.
Attention has focused instead on chief executive Piet Liebenberg's resignation, rumoured to be a result of his dissatisfaction with the bill as it did not go far enough.
But Trevor van Heerden, Commissioner for Inland Revenue, said last week that the bill was "groundbreaking" as it is the first to allow a state department to break away from the civil service. It will enable the taxman to offer competitive, market-related salaries and give it freedom to determine salary grades and scales.
The bill proposes making the department of revenue a new organ of the state within the broad public administration but outside the public service.
In addition to the post of commissioner, a renewable five-year position, the SARS will also be governed by an advisory board of about ten people, of whom about eight will be drawn from the private sector. Van Heerden said the board will draw on private sector expertise to improve the management, efficiency, performance measurement, budgeting and implementation of the Act.
SARS is also raising its levels of computer usage and has just awarded a large tender for computer equipment.
Automation will play a role in various activities in the future, one of which is the monitoring of certificates of good tax standing.
South Africans wishing to make use of the R200 000 foreign investment allowance have to complete forms stating that their tax affairs are in order. It has also been suggested that similar forms be completed by those tendering for government business, those applying for subsidies from the Department of Trade and Industry and even by consumers applying for certain services.
Van Heerden said a number of these areas is being looked at and progress is quite rapid. Monitoring the certificates of good standing will not be a labour-intensive process but checked automatically by centralised computer systems.
"This is only the beginning," he said. "The intention is that we should be technically driven in future."
Raising the status and morale of the tax collectors through becoming an autonomous department, paying better salaries and being supported by sophisticated management and technical systems will translate into better tax collection.
The only people who will not welcome these moves will be the tax dodgers.