Rethinking the erosional effect of indirect taxation on individual income

Abstract

This paper examines the erosional effect of indirect taxes on individual incomes of South African
citizens. A focus on taxation and the pervasion of indirect taxation in particular has become important given growing income inequality, unemployment and poverty amongst South Africans. The methodological approach utilised in this paper is rooted in reviews and use of hypothetical salaries to assess the erosional effect of indirect taxation on such salaries. The paper finds that although richer individuals may pay greater indirect taxes than poorer individuals; as a proportion of income however, poorer individuals spend higher proportion of their income on indirect taxes than richer individuals. This connotes therefore the lack of desired progressivity that should be implicit in South African indirect tax system. South Africa is among countries with the highest income inequality in the world. The implication of this research finding is that indirect taxes may exacerbate income inequality and work against the government vision of “better life for all” and in particular worsen the state of the poor class. The paper concludes that achieving effective reduction of income inequality and economic transformation in South Africa would require exempting individuals below certain threshold of income from paying some indirect taxes.