Abstracts Political Science

Intergovernmental relations and the devolution of taxes : lessons for South Africa

by Vanessa Boshoff

The transition of South Africa to a democracy signifies large-scale changes in the political and economic spheres. The public sector, one of the main participants in the economy, does not escape this transformation. A more democratic structure entails, inter alia, increased empowerment of sub-national levels of government. This means that various functions must be devolved to provinces along with certain revenue sources in a bid to increase their autonomy and efficiency in service delivery. The fundamental aim of this paper is to analyze the intended future constitutional order of South Africa according to theoretical principles of decentralisation and tax devolution, and to propose a suitable tax framework for the new order. A primary prerequisite for a new tax structure is that the economic return on the revenue absorbed by government should be maximised. The problem is that some taxes are suitable for devolution and some should remain in the control of the national government. Furthermore, existing tax structures have to be considered when devising new tax frameworks.