Consultant challenges SARS' new revenue-collection image

THE AMALGAMATION of Customs and the SA Revenue Services (SARS) is not all it should be, according to trade consultant, John Busuttil. "It might be hailed in some quarters as a logical step," he told FTW, "and certainly in some ways the department has improved. But two disconcerting issues have arisen." The first, according to Busuttil, is the department's new powers under the law. "The second," he added, "is that the department has acquired the character of a revenue collecting operation rather than a customs department." These two factors combined, in Busuttil's thinking, change the role from an institution designed to monitor and protect trade, to one that is there entirely to collect cash and meet its budgets. The level of training and experience amongst senior officials is also challenged by Busuttil, as is their perception of their brief. "The majority of senior officials in the past were there to collect the correct rather than the maximum duty for the state. "You therefore had a more balanced, unbiased view of assessing the duty liability of an importer Ð as the emphasis was not on maximising revenue." This problem is further aggravated, according to Busuttil, by the fact that many experienced officials have taken early retirement, leaving many novices to the trade at senior levels.