Tax simplification - An African Perspective Edited by Chris Evans, Riël Franzsen, Elizabeth (Lilla) Stack 2019 ISBN: 978-1-920538-96-5 Pages: 347 Print version: Available Electronic version: Free PDF available About the publication Why are tax systems so complex and what are the causes and consequences of such complexity? The simplification of tax systems is one of the most important issues faced today in worldwide efforts to modernise and strengthen government finance and revenue raising capacities. Nowhere is it more important than throughout the rapidly emerging economies of the dynamic African region. This volume brings together contributions in this field from a conference held in South Africa in October 2018 and provides a unique synthesis of knowledge and understanding gained from the specialist expertise and diverse backgrounds brought to the tax simplification debate by those authors. Featured topics include: Taxpayers’ rights to simplicity The African experience of tax simplification Simplification trends among small and medium sized entities Pension tax simplification Sources of complexity in value added taxation Simplification of recurrent property taxes Complexity and approaches to international taxation Complexity and taxation of multinational enterprises Lessons from overseas. The analysis of these topics includes timely and relevant perspectives from the experience in other jurisdictions including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The volume will be an essential reference for researchers and others interested in the field from academia, government, legal and accounting practice and public policy organisations in African and other countries worldwide.Table of Contents Preface Foreword – Tax Simplification in the United Kingdom: Some Personal Reflections John Whiting Contributors Introduction Elizabeth (Lilla) Stack, Chris Evans and Riël Franzsen Tax Complexity and Tax Simplification: A Critical Review of Concepts and Issues Binh Tran-Nam, Annet Wanyana Oguttu and Kyle Mandy The Taxpayers’ Right to Tax Simplicity in South Africa and the United States Carika Fritz and Nina E Olson The Role of the Office of Tax Simplification in the United Kingdom and Lessons for Other Countries Yige Zu and Lynne Oats An Analysis of the Tax Simplification Initiatives for Pension Provision in the United Kingdom and South Africa Bernadene de Clercq, Andy Lymer and Chris Axelson Simplification Lessons from New Zealand Adrian Sawyer, Marina Bornman and Greg Smith Legal Uncertainty in the South African VAT Marius van Oordt and Richard Krever Simplifying Recurrent Property Taxes in Africa Riël Franzsen, Abdallah Ali-Nakyea and Adams Tommy Statutory and Effective Complexity for Individual Taxpayers in South Africa Sharon Smulders, Karen Stark and Deborah Tickle Small and Micro Businesses: Case Studies on the Complexity of ‘Simplified’ Schemes Heinrich Dixon, Judith Freedman and Wollela Abehodie Yesegat Tax Complexity for Multinational Corporations in South Africa – Evidence from a Global Survey Thomas Hoppe, Reyhaneh Safaei, Amanda Singleton and Caren Sureth-Sloane International Tax Simplification in South Africa through Managing Substantive Complexity and Improving Drafting Efficiency Jinyan Li and Teresa Pidduck Bibliography Index
Capital gains taxes pose a host of technical and political design problems and yet, while the literature on the theory of capital gains taxation is substantial, little has been published on how governments have addressed these dilemmas. Written by a team of distinguished international experts, Capital Gains Taxation addresses the gap in the literature; it explains how a number of countries tax capital gains and the successes and pitfalls of these methods.
This book provides a critical analysis of the feasibility and impact of a universal basic income grant for South Africans, which has been discussed extensively in parliament and the media for the past two years. The authors assess how comprehensive social security reform, including a universal grant, will impact on the severe inequality in the country and promote economic growth and employment. Their research reveals that it is affordable, and they argue that it would reduce the criminality that is associated with poverty and inequality. The implications for women and children and for the black majority would be considerable. At the Presidential Jobs Summit in 1998 COSATU negotiated an agreement with the government to investigate a universal social grant for all South Africans -- the Basic Income Grant. Government policy-makers, civil society stakeholders and South African and international thinkers recognised the merit of addressing the problem of poverty directly and efficiently. In March 2002 the South African government's Committee of Inquiry into Comprehensive Social Security completed its evaluation of policy options for addressing the severe levels of poverty afflicting the country. Accepting the findings of research commissioned from the Economic Policy Research Institute, the Committee's report stated that the Basic Income Grant has the potential, more than any other possible social protection intervention, to reduce poverty and promote human development and sustainable livelihoods'. This book provides an accessible collection of the current research on the issue, with chapters by both proponents and critics of the Basic Income Grant. Some of the issues discussed include: How can the grant be financed? In what ways will the grant promote job creation, economic growth and social development? And will the government demonstrate the political will to implement what is likely to be the single most effective policy for reducing poverty and eradicating destitution?
Virtually all objections to taxation schemes spring from perceptions of unfairness. Is tax fairness possible? The question is certainly worth investigating in depth, and that is the purpose of this book. Today, as governments are busily making new tax rules in the wake of staggering budget deficits, is perhaps an appropriate time to pay heed to fairness so it can be incorporated as far as possible into tax reform. With twelve contributions from some of the world’s most respected international tax experts—including the late Paul McDaniel, in whose honor these essays were assembled—this invaluable book focuses on tax expenditure analysis, the quest for a just income tax, and division and/or harmonization of the income tax base among jurisdictions. Among the areas of taxation ripe for reform from a fairness point of view the authors single out the following: tax expenditure budget construction; tax expenditure reporting; modern welfare economics as a driver of tax reform; grantor trust rules; the notion of “horizontal equity”; the international tax norm of “income source”; transfer pricing; and jurisdictional application of VAT. Specific ongoing reforms in the United States, Australia, and other countries—as well a detailed analysis of the EU’s proposed common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB)—are also examined for fairness. As a timely, high-quality resource that effectively tackles an array of salient issues, this is a book that will be read and studied by tax practitioners, corporate tax experts, government tax policy makers, advisers and consultants on the reform and design of tax systems, and international organizations involved in standard setting related to tax administration, as well as academics and researchers.
Drawing on the rich structural and political understandings of radical South African intellectuals, this book explains why the South African government has been unable to breach the boundaries of change erected by the privileged classes. It reveals why it has adopted conservative economic policies, and why the country's popular movement has failed to press home more radical opinions. Hein Marais compellingly probes the hidden dynamics of South Africa's transition, arguing that the democratic breakthrough was much less open-ended than generally believed.
Few aspects of revenue law generate stronger feelings than the exercise of discretionary power by tax administrations. A delicate balance often needs to be struck between the legitimate needs of revenue authorities and the equally legitimate interests and rights of taxpayers. On the one hand, the executive and administration need to have sufficient capacity to apply the law; on the other, there is a need to maintain the principle of the rule of law that it is the elected legislature, and not the executive or tax administration, that establishes tax burdens. The chapters in this volume explore that delicate balance. The Delicate Balance - Tax, Discretion and the Rule of Law considers the critical questions that arise from the intersections of tax, discretion and the rule of law in modern common and civil law jurisdictions: What do we mean by tax discretion and how does it vary in conceptual and practical terms in different tax regimes? -What role should discretion play in tax systems that operate under the rule of law and how large should that role be? -What are the legal, political, institutional and other constraints that can prevent abuse of discretion? -To what extent can, and should, the legislature safely delegate discretionary powers to tax administrations?