NEWS ANALYSIS: A Piketty-style wealth tax would probably do more harm than good
Wealth taxes are more about social engineering than raising revenue, but there is a reason many OECD countries are reversing them
The hotly debated issue of a wealth tax for SA’s already overburdened taxpayers is squarely in focus after the Davis Tax Committee called for public submissions on the desirability and feasibility of such a tax. French economist Thomas Piketty raised the idea of a wealth tax in his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and his philosophies have been widely quoted by tax committee chairman Dennis Davis. The proposed forms such a tax may take in SA include a land tax, potentially just a tax on agricultural land or land over a particular size; a national tax on the value of property (over and above municipal rates); and an annual wealth tax, basically an estate duty payable every year, not just at death. The deadline for submission is the end of this month, and a group of concerned tax and wealth professionals have already begun to research and draft submissions on the issue.Keith Engel, CEO of the South African Institute of Tax Professionals, says these additional taxes would rep...
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