Tax revolt on the cards?
South Africans have been through a lot and still go through a lot on a daily basis when it comes to the appropriation of tax payers money. Whether it be Nkandla or the e-tolling system, South Africans generally feel that there is no fair indication that their taxes are used in the correct manner. The number of service delivery protests in the country is an indication of this.
Tax season closes at the end of November, and we have once again been urged by the South African Revenue Services to be open and honest when it comes to filing our taxes. While there shouldn’t be a need for this reminder, we can see it as government’s duty of reminding us that Big Brother is watching.
The key role player
At the recent Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa Conference, Judge Bernard Ngoepe – the Tax Ombudsman – said that ethics is as essential in tax collection as it is in everyday life as ethics is central to everything that we do. “The country, and the whole world, turns upon good ethics,” said Judge Ngoepe.
The fact of the matter is that government wants to extract the greatest amount of tax revenue that it can within legal limits, and the public has a civil duty to pay what it owes in the form of taxes.
But how can we achieve this? We know that only 5% of the population is responsible for bearing the tax burden of the whole country, and government is not performing as it should be when it comes to the collection of corporate taxes. So how does government go about this important task?
Entering the mine field
It seems funny to me that Judge Ngoepe had to point out that the public needs to be motivated to pay taxes, you will never find this in rule bound countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden where there is no question that taxes need to be paid. However, Ngoepe made this point for a reason.
The public needs to be motivated because, as Judge Ngoepe points out, there is a woeful amount of unethical behaviour in the industry when it comes to the issue of taxes. This is both true for the public and for companies.
“While there is a duty imposed upon the public and companies to be open and honest with regards to tax issues, there is also a greater responsibility on higher powers to appropriate taxes in the correct manner. There needs to be fair and equitable treatment across the value chain. This is very important,” said Judge Ngoepe.
First strike: speaking frankly
During his time as the Judge President of the North Gauteng High Court and as an Acting Judge in the Constitutional Court, Judge Ngoepe has had to deal with his fair share of cases where fraud/misappropriation of funds was a central theme. It is no wonder that he has very strong views on this topic.
“It is no surprise that the more corrupt a government is, the fewer taxes it will collect. This is a sure fire recipe for disaster. If the public gets good services, they won’t mind paying taxes. That is why ethics is vitally important,” said Judge Ngoepe.
The pushback
It is no surprise that where there is a lack of ethical behaviour, the people will get disgruntled. According to Ngoepe, this is why we are seeing issues such as the Fees Must Fall campaign and the spate of service delivery protests.
There is also another side to the problem, the side of the internal conflict within each of us. Judge Ngoepe says that people want to pay taxes, but will not pay if the money is not used properly, if there is corruption and if the tax revenue will be funding an institution which is not doing its job properly.
There have been a few rumours that the country is facing a possible tax revolt. While this is an extreme situation, and Judge Ngoepe agrees that this is an extreme situation, he pointed out that one foot in the wrong direction will put government on the slippery slope towards this situation. “it may take a long time for this situation to arise, but we need to take care now to make sure that it doesn’t,” said Judge Ngoepe.
Editor’s Thoughts:
Judge Ngoepe ended off by saying that it is not merely a moral obligation to pay taxes, but also a legal one. He added that we need to sit with our feet towards the fire. Civil society needs to stand up and articulate what is foremost on our minds: what are our taxes being used for. This perhaps is our most important duty. Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts [email protected].
Comments
Judge Ngoepe, but tell me Judge is it not also a moral and legal obligation for the government to benefit the citizens of SA with their own and others' tax money? Report Abuse
The principal is simple. In the economy and in business - if a company neglects their service to the consumer the consumer turns away from that company and spend their money elsewhere where they receive value for their money and where they feel they are not abused. The bad company should then not cry if they are liquidated. Report Abuse