Being that South Africa heads the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information, it’s expected that the country would take action and address tax loopholes that have caused the nation to lose money.

Business Day Live reported that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is looking to target high earning citizens and companies which have managed to slip through tax loopholes in the past. The article notes that severe dips in tax revenue dates back to 2007/2008 when the global recession hit.

“Without the tax that should be coming from corporates, governments are forced to raise tax rates on individuals or cut spending,” Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in the report, which covered the “G-20 and Africa” conference.

“Think of how much African governments could do with this extra tax revenue. Africa could be a fundamentally better place with more schools, more infrastructure and more economic activity,” Gordhan, also a former SARS commissioner, said.

According to Gordhan, paying less tax overtime through a low-bracket profit transferring system called base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), South Africa’s economy — and economies across Africa — have suffered.

A member of Group of 20 (G-20), by size and strength, South Africa has been singled out as the continent’s economic leader — more recently receiving pressure from global organizations to seal tax loopholes, the report said.

“We already have, according to SARS, several cases of BEPS which impact on billions of rand of tax which is payable to SA authorities,” Gordham continued. Many lagging tax revenue cases, he added, boil down to “high net worth individuals who are not paying their fare share.”

Godber Tumushabe, Ugandan policy analyst offered a solution saying:

“The idea is good, to increase revenue and set some principles and rules, particularly for multi-national corporations, because most African countries don’t have the in-house expertise to do the job alone.”

With the help of G-20, SARS and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Africa is hoping to openly present tax information so that it continuously meets Common Global Reporting Standards. Receiving due funds from tax revenue would allow the government to operate more efficiently, allocating more money to projects.