Thank you very much, hon Deputy Speaker. The tax base erosion and profit shifting are the main immoral practices that the government, together with citizens, must challenge.
The ANC-led government, in the form of former Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, was entrusted with the responsibility to chair the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, tax forum despite the fact that we are a nonmember and have only observer status. The relevance of this gesture from the OECD was that it was in recognition of the South African government's efforts to deal head-on with tax base erosion and profit shifting.
I also need to say that it is really true that companies' income tax has grown from just above R71 billion in the 2004-5 fiscal year to just above R179 billion in the 2013-14 fiscal year. Obviously there must be something that this ruling party is doing right. If we are able to move on from 2004, from the R71 billion to the R179 billion that we have been able to recover from companies, we are obviously doing something right. [Applause.]
The matter of tax base erosion cannot be left to individual countries alone. This is because we are dealing with a digitalised and globalised economy that makes it very difficult for individual countries to address these challenges on their own.
That is why we believe that it has become necessary for South Africans to find ways of raising this and making sure that we take a closer look at those companies and deal with them severely. I refer especially to those that are doing business with the government, because you can't be taking money from the government, while at the same time you are avoiding paying tax. On that score we agree.
I therefore submit that the ANC supports these tax Bills, and we believe that this is the only way we can implement the National Development Plan. I thank you. [Applause.]