Sars boss Moyane bares his teeth

South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Tom Moyane says relations with his boss, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, are strained and he has accused Gordhan of damaging the tax agency’s credibility.

Moyane said on Friday it was “extremely regrettable” that Gordhan, in an interview last week with Business Day newspaper, had blamed a R30 billion revenue shortfall in part on Sars’ performance.

“Such utterances by a person as senior as the minister of finance poses serious challenges to the overall credibility, and hence effectiveness of Sars as an institution,” he said.

South Africa will target high earners with a new personal income tax, Gordhan said on Wednesday in his budget speech, to boost revenues and trim the budget deficit amid disappointing growth and high unemployment.

Moyane said the issues between Treasury and Sars stemmed from the antagonism between him and Gordhan. “I concede that the challenges between National Treasury and Sars are mainly characterised by the cult of personality between the Minister and the person of the Commissioner for Sars … on a personal and professional level, my relationship with the Minister has been rather strained,” he said.

He said he was willing to engage the minister “with or without the intervention of a third party” to resolve their differences.

Treasury responded: “This is an internal matter and is being handled as such.”

Gordhan said last year he was concerned about Sars’ leadership after it failed to suspend an official for suspicious cash transactions caught on camera.