A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax
Background: Wealth taxes are a topic of intense debate, with most countries having either abolished them or considered, but not implemented such measures. The South African government is contemplating the introduction of a wealth tax, purportedly to enhance revenue collection. Aim: This article exa...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AOSIS
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/5857 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1823858230622683136 |
|---|---|
| author | Asheer Jaywant Ram |
| author_facet | Asheer Jaywant Ram |
| author_sort | Asheer Jaywant Ram |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Wealth taxes are a topic of intense debate, with most countries having either abolished them or considered, but not implemented such measures. The South African government is contemplating the introduction of a wealth tax, purportedly to enhance revenue collection.
Aim: This article examines whether the proposed South African wealth tax functions as a government panopticon, offering an alternative explanation for its introduction. It also considers the government’s transparency regarding the potential wealth tax.
Setting: This article examined the opinions of tax experts in South Africa.
Method: An interpretive approach is adopted. The traits of the wealth tax and the themes of the panopticon are identified and used as the row and column headings in a correspondence table, which serves as the research instrument distributed to tax experts. The tax experts indicate any associations between the themes of the panopticon and the traits of the wealth tax. Forty aggregated responses are subjected to correspondence analysis.
Results: The potential wealth tax functions as a panopticon. It identifies and reveals relevant tax information about high-wealth individuals, appearing to coerce their compliance.
Conclusion: There is credence to the alternate rationale for introducing a wealth tax in South Africa.
Contribution: This is one of the first articles to apply the panopticon, a novel theoretical framework, in a tax context in South Africa. The findings are relevant to the exploration of similar taxes in other jurisdictions and provide a means for the critical evaluation of the motives behind tax policy decisions made by governments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e36a6314acaa43ddb268571210f5f34a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1015-8812 2222-3436 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-e36a6314acaa43ddb268571210f5f34a2025-02-11T13:27:57ZengAOSISSouth African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences1015-88122222-34362025-01-01281e1e1310.4102/sajems.v28i1.58571111A panoptic view of the South African wealth taxAsheer Jaywant Ram0Margo Steele School of Accountancy, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, JohannesburgBackground: Wealth taxes are a topic of intense debate, with most countries having either abolished them or considered, but not implemented such measures. The South African government is contemplating the introduction of a wealth tax, purportedly to enhance revenue collection. Aim: This article examines whether the proposed South African wealth tax functions as a government panopticon, offering an alternative explanation for its introduction. It also considers the government’s transparency regarding the potential wealth tax. Setting: This article examined the opinions of tax experts in South Africa. Method: An interpretive approach is adopted. The traits of the wealth tax and the themes of the panopticon are identified and used as the row and column headings in a correspondence table, which serves as the research instrument distributed to tax experts. The tax experts indicate any associations between the themes of the panopticon and the traits of the wealth tax. Forty aggregated responses are subjected to correspondence analysis. Results: The potential wealth tax functions as a panopticon. It identifies and reveals relevant tax information about high-wealth individuals, appearing to coerce their compliance. Conclusion: There is credence to the alternate rationale for introducing a wealth tax in South Africa. Contribution: This is one of the first articles to apply the panopticon, a novel theoretical framework, in a tax context in South Africa. The findings are relevant to the exploration of similar taxes in other jurisdictions and provide a means for the critical evaluation of the motives behind tax policy decisions made by governments.https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/5857benthamcorrespondence analysisfoucaultpanopticonsouth africawealth tax |
| spellingShingle | Asheer Jaywant Ram A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences bentham correspondence analysis foucault panopticon south africa wealth tax |
| title | A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax |
| title_full | A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax |
| title_fullStr | A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax |
| title_full_unstemmed | A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax |
| title_short | A panoptic view of the South African wealth tax |
| title_sort | panoptic view of the south african wealth tax |
| topic | bentham correspondence analysis foucault panopticon south africa wealth tax |
| url | https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/5857 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT asheerjaywantram apanopticviewofthesouthafricanwealthtax AT asheerjaywantram panopticviewofthesouthafricanwealthtax |