South Africa’s Upside Tax Surprise May Help Pay For Vaccines (1)

South African revenue collections that are expected to overshoot budget estimates could take the pressure off the National Treasury to raise taxes to pay for the acquisition and rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

Total tax revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year is 875.7 billion rand ($58 billion), according to National Treasury data. While that’s 10.6% lower than the same period in 2019-20, it compares with a 17.9% shortfall projected for the full year in October’s medium-term budget policy statement.

Read more: S. Africa’s Revenue Collection for April-Dec. Down 10.6% y/y

If the trend in tax collections ...