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Title A comparative study of the primary tax rebate system in South Africa in relation to Brazil and Australia
Full text http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07262013-170652/
Date 2013
Author(s) Candiotes, Alexander George
Contributor(s) Dr T L Steyn; Mrs H du Preez
Abstract The South African primary rebate is governed by Section 6 of the Income Tax Act (58 of 1962). This primary tax rebate entitles taxpayers to a tax-free income portion up to a certain level depending on the rebate amount (also referred to as the tax threshold). The concept of tax thresholds in a tax system in essence adhere to the first tax canon of Smith (1776:676), which suggests that individuals should pay taxes in proportion to each persons ability to pay tax. The implication of this tax canon is that individuals who have a limited or no ability to pay tax should only be subject to pay tax in relation to their ability. Therefore, before tax can be levied, an amount for the necessities-of-life must be deducted from the taxpayers income (Vivian, 2006:85). The primary rebate system thus gives individuals a tax-free income portion which is supposed to first compensate for an individuals necessities-of-life expenses or put differently the costs to survive. The main purpose of the present study is to critically analyse and compare the fairness of the primary rebates in South Africa in relation to other countries. To meet the main purpose a comparison was done between South Africas primary rebate and related government grant programs to that of Brazil and Australia. It was found that South Africa rebate system creates significant vertical and horizontal unfairness and that it compares poorly to the fairer multiple rebate and government grant systems of Brazil and Australia. Accordingly it was recommended that the unified primary rebate system of South Africa is reviewed and brought in line with the multiple rebate systems implemented in countries such as Brazil and Australia. © 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria Please cite as follows: Candiotes, AG 2012, A comparative study of the primary tax rebate system in South Africa in relation to Brazil and Australia, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07262013-170652 / > F13/4/562/gm
Subject(s) Taxation
Language en-uk
Publisher University of Pretoria
Type of publication text
Format application/pdf
Source http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07262013-170652/
Rights unrestricted; I hereby certify that, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report (
Repository Pretoria - University of Pretoria, Theses and Dissertations
Added to C-A: 2017-03-10;15:13:06