South Africa Urged To Drop New Wealth Tax Proposals

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

09 June 2017

A think tank in South Africa has warned that introducing a new form of wealth tax will unfairly add to the high tax burden of a small number of taxpayers that contribute the most in revenues already.

In response to a consultation from the influential Davis Tax Committee on new wealth tax options, the South African Institute of Race Relations said that South Africa has a "tiny tax base" and 60 percent of personal and corporate income tax comes from just 560,000 individuals and 610 companies.

It said that introducing a new land tax, a national tax on the value of property (over and above municipal rates), or a wealth tax, as proposed in the consultation, would "further hobble the economy," noting that "imposing a wealth tax on this small group could encourage a flight of capital and skills" from South Africa.

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