New tax data shows that just 0.1% of companies account for more than two-thirds of South Africa’s company income tax, fuelling renewed debate about wealth concentration and inequality in Cape Town. A small fraction of South African companies continues to shoulder the bulk of the country’s corporate tax burden, a concentration that is sharpening debates around inequality, tax policy and economic risk in Cape Town. According to the Tax Statistics 2025 – Highlights published by National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), just 0.1% of assessed companies accounted for more than two-thirds of company income tax collected nationally in the 2023 tax year.
The same group generated 68.1% of total taxable income and 66.4% of assessed company tax, highlighting how heavily the fiscus depends on a narrow corporate base. While the figures are national, they carry particular significance for Cape Town, home to a large share of South Africa’s major corporates, regional head offices and financial services firms. These sectors, including finance, insurance, real estate and professional services, are identified in the tax data as key drivers of company income tax.
Company income tax contributed R323.2 billion to the national fiscus in the 2024/25 financial year, accounting for 17.4% of total tax revenue. At the same time, the data shows that the overwhelming majority of registered companies contribute relatively little to overall collections, despite operating in the same difficult economic environment marked by weak growth, high costs and constrained consumer demand The concentration of corporate tax revenue mirrors broader economic patterns in Cape Town, where strong commercial activity and high-value property markets coexist with persistent unemployment, housing shortages and rising service-delivery pressures.
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