Global Tax 50 2016: Pravin Gordhan

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Global Tax 50 2016: Pravin Gordhan

Minister of finance, South Africa

Pravin Gordhan

Pravin Gordhan is a new entry this year

After 18 months as South Africa's minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Pravin Gordhan stepped back into his old role as finance minister in December 2015, boosting business confidence in South Africa's economy when it was needed and securing his position in the Global Tax 50.

Over the past year, he has continued to press for measures that will raise $3.1 billion in revenues in the next two years.

However, Gordhan has been in the media for far more controversial matters this year – the finance minister was charged with tax fraud in October, but South African prosecutors dropped the charges against Gordhan only two days before he was due to appear in court. The finance minister denied any wrongdoing from the beginning, which was confirmed when National Prosecuting Authority chief Shaun Abrahams said he was satisfied that Gordhan did not have the requisite intention to act unlawfully, and directed the summons to be withdrawn.

Aside from the controversy, Gordhan has been a pillar of reassurance for investors and the business community. He has maintained a stable business environment throughout the year by not introducing major changes to the business tax system in his annual budget in February and subsequent mid-term budget policy statement in October. The finance minister said the economic environment had been unusually difficult this year, but stressed that his mid-term budget policy statement outlined a "measured, balanced fiscal consolidation" that prioritised capital investment and stabilised national debt as a share of GDP.

But this is not to say that it has been a quiet year for Gordhan.

The special voluntary disclosure programme, which was announced in the 2016 budget, was enacted and opened on October 1 2016, allowing taxpayers to regularise their undisclosed or unauthorised foreign assets and associated income before the South African Revenue Service begins exchanging tax data with foreign tax authorities from September 2017.

Gordhan has also submitted several tax bills to parliament to enact previously announced measures from the 2015 and 2016 budgets, such as the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and the Finance Bill, to raise revenue.

Outside of South Africa, Gordhan was also part of a panel at the OECD forum in Paris in July, where he called for tax policies to trigger economic growth. "We have growth modelling issues at the moment that we don't have answers to. Somebody needs to take the initiative, perhaps the OECD, to bring these range of role players around the table and say 'can we as much as we've had an agreement on the tax issues, can we get agreement on a different economic model'," Gordhan said. He added that he would like to see new transparency provisions for multinational enterprises. In his 2016 budget statement in February, he also noted that with effect from 2017, international agreements on information sharing will "enable tax authorities to act more effectively against illicit flows and abusive practices by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals".

But however righteous Gordhan's visions for a more transparent corporate world are, the fraud allegations might continue to haunt him. Although the charges were dropped, such accusations are never good news for politicians – particularly finance ministers pushing transparency agendas – and could potentially have reputational consequences for Gordhan and South Africa's government.

In addition, 2017 may prove to be a difficult year for Gordhan as he looks to move forward with plans for a controversial carbon tax and a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Gordhan said that the planned carbon tax "will be dealt with in 2017" and consultations on the levy are "continuing". The tax has been stalled because of "demands on the legislative programme", Gordhan said in his mid-term budget speech.

The Global Tax 50 2016

View the full list and introduction

The top 10 • Ranked in order of influence

1. Margrethe Vestager

2. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

3. Brexit

4. Arun Jaitley

5. Jacob Lew

6. Antoine Deltour and Raphaël Halet

7. Operation Zealots

8. Guy Verhofstadt

9. Theresa May (and the 'three Brexiteers')

10. Donald Trump

The remaining 40 • In alphabetic order

Kemi Adeosun

Piet Battiau

Elise Bean

Monica Bhatia

Allison Christians

Tim Cook

Rita de la Feria

Caroline Flint

Judith Freedman

Chrystia Freeland

Pravin Gordhan

Orrin Hatch

Meg Hillier

Mulyani Indrawati

Lou Jiwei

Paul Johnson

Stephanie Johnston

Chris Jordan

Pravind Jugnauth

Wang Jun

Jean-Claude Juncker

Kathleen Kerrigan

Christine Lagarde

Werner Langen

Jolyon Maugham

Angela Merkel

Narendra Modi

Will Morris

Michael Noonan

Grace Perez-Navarro

Platform for the Collaboration on Tax

Donato Raponi

Pascal Saint-Amans

Heather Self

Robert Stack

Tax Justice Network

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Transparency International

US Committee on Ways and Means

Rodrigo Valdés

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The EU defended its ‘sovereign right’ to impose the tax in the face of US tariff threats; in other news, the US deputy Treasury secretary resigned after just five months
Ascoria’s chief revenue officer shares her career wisdom garnered from the disparate worlds of tax technology, electric cables, radio DJing and more
Businesses no longer have a choice when it comes to tax technology transformation. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says the question is simply: sink or swim?
The firm is hunting for a senior TP manager in its quest to build a full-service practice in Indonesia, A&M Tax’s Jakarta head Jaap Zwaan tells ITR
With a new government in place, the evolving tax landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for taxpayers
Major economies have expressed concerns, with China arguing a US global minimum tax exemption would be a violation of the principle of fair competition – ITR understands
Senator Richard Colbeck told ITR he was concerned by the decision to let PwC Australia tender for government contracts again after a scandal-induced ban
Whether it be due to a fragmented advisory market or a rise in M&A, Italy’s frenetic hiring has not gone unnoticed by ITR’s Talent Tracker
The deal gives Azets 14 new partners and boosts its Swedish revenues to over $100 million; in other news, Svalner Atlas launched in Copenhagen
The tax technology company will be providing a free demonstration of its OTP software and offering best practice advice on whether to ‘buy or build’ on September 8
Gift this article