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Finance minister Tito Mboweni has published new data on how South Africa’s tax statistics have changed over the last five years.

Responding as part of a written parliamentary Q&A, Mbonweni’s data indicates that there has been a clear decrease in persons submitting Personal Income Tax (PIT) while the number of Corporates submitting returns (CIT) has increased.

Despite this shift, provisional tax data published by SARS in April shows that Personal Income Tax (PIT) is still a key source of revenue.

In 2019/2020 the revenue collector collected a gross amount of R1.6 trillion, which was offset by refunds of R291.9 billion, resulting in net collections of R1.35 trillion.

This represents growth of R68.2 billion (5.3%) against the 2018/19 financial year, the revenue collector said.

SARS noted that the main sources of revenue that contributed to the R1.35 trillion collected were:

• Personal Income Tax (PIT) contributed R528.9 billion (39%);
• Value-Added Tax (VAT) contributing R346.6 billion (25.6%);
• Company Income Tax (CIT), contributed R214.7 billion (15.8%);
• Customs duties contributed R55.4 billion (4.1%).

The below table, provided by Mboweni, shows the total number of persons who submitted personal tax returns in each of the past five tax years.

The below table shows the total amount of tax paid by personal taxpayers in each of the last five tax years.

The final tables show the total number of companies that submitted corporate tax returns in each of the past five tax years and the total amount of tax paid by corporate entities in each specified tax year.

Demographics

South Africa’s annual tax statistics published at the end of 2019 also provides interesting data on who is paying South Africa’s Personal Income Tax.

SARS’ data shows that:

• 2,680,449 (54.5%) of assessed taxpayers were male taxpayers; 2,236,580 (45.5%) were female;
• 1,342,511 (27.3%) of assessed taxpayers were aged 35 to 44 years; and
• 1,976,674 (40.2%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng, of which 636,460 lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R446,838.

This graph shows how income tax collection looks distributed geographically:

This graph shows how income tax collection is distributed between males and females:

This graph shows how income tax collection is distributed across broad income groups:

This table shows how income tax collection is distributed across narrow income groups:

Article by BusinessTech

No, you will not be arrested for transporting booze after hours, including Friday, Saturday, Sunday and any public holiday.

The U-turn comes just days after SA police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo issued a stern warning to the public, saying anyone caught transporting alcohol after 5pm on Thursday and before 9am on Monday will be charged with violating the National Disaster Act.

“Between Monday at 9am and Thursday at 5pm is the only time people are allowed to purchase and transport alcohol for their personal use,” Naidoo said. “Any other time beyond that will be a contravention of the regulations. People must be warned.”

Article by TimesLive

• A new draft law seeks to change the definition of a bicycle in South Africa, to include e-bikes – but only if they can go no faster than 25km/h.
• And e-bikes that go faster than 45km/h may require a licence to drive, just like a motorbike.
• That could have implications for safety, insurance, who gets to use bike lanes, and how legally dangerous it will be to overclock an e-bike.

  
  South Africa will be getting a new definition of what qualifies as a bicycle, if the transport department gets its way.

  The National Road Traffic Amendment Bill, published this week, notably seeks to set the drunk-driving limit in South Africa to zero, potentially meaning drivers will have to watch what they drink the night before getting behind the wheel to go to work.

  But it also, for the first time, brings e-bikes into road legislation, in a fashion that has everyone from insurance experts to e-bike importers taking notice.

  The draft law proposes broadening the definition of a “pedal cycle”, which currently allows two or three wheels but no motor, to include bicycles with both pedals and an electric motor.

  There is a limit, though: that motor may not be capable of propelling the bicycle or tricycle unassisted at a speed not exceeding 25km/h.

  Separately, the definition of what qualifies as a “motor vehicle” is also altered. If passed in its current form, an exclusion for e-bikes from being considered motor vehicles will drop away as soon as they have a “maximum design speed” of more than 45 km/h.

  That could see moderately fast e-bikes banned from areas reserved for bicycles, such as cycle lanes, while requiring motorcycle-type licensing for both the vehicles and their riders if they can go fast enough.

  Bicycles may go faster – but they’re lighter.

  Those kinds of speeds are not unusual on bicycles that come with no electrical help at all, says David Maree, a professional rider and a rider representative at Cycling SA. But there’s a crucial safety difference between a cyclist barrelling down a hill at 70km/h and someone on an e-bike going at similar speeds, he says.

  “With a bicycle you’re looking at 7kg, that e-bike is 20kg to 30kg, and the momentum isn’t the same. If you hit someone with a 7kg bike you are still doing damage, but it is nothing like what you do with a 20kg bike.”

  While Maree can see a safety argument for limiting e-bike speeds, he is not clear on how it would be policed. He himself deals in “de-restricting” e-bikes, allowing them to go faster than their manufacturers intend – often to meet criteria such as South Africa’s draft limits.

  But many buyers in the  growing e-bike sector may stick to governing limits built into their bikes, he believes, which may reduce injuries.

  Enforcement aside, bringing e-bikes into the realm of motor vehicles will very likely cause trouble with it comes to insurance – and the Road Accident Fund (RAF), says Gert Nel, a specialist personal-injury lawyer who happens to have a keen interest in cycling.

  “Somewhere someone is going to get hurt, and then questions will arise,” says Nel. Questions such as: if someone is injured by an e-bike designed to go faster than 45km/h, does that person have a claim against the RAF? If so, will that hasten a nearly inevitable process to move funding for the RAF away from being drawn via a petrol levy, leaving electric vehicles as non-contributors even while they are covered by the RAF?

  That will likely only be settled by a court once the first such incident occurs, Nel says. In the meanwhile, changes may start to seep in at the level of municipal bylaws and rules relating to specific, pedestrian-safe spaces as e-bikes pick up speed.

  “The ordinary guy on the street sees e-bikes as bicycles until they start going so fast that they seem to be a danger and people get uncomfortable,” says Nel.

  “That’s when we’ll see regulation.”

Article by BusinessInsider

An alliance between South Africa’s ruling party and labour unions is pushing for the mobilization of domestic pension funds to drive economic growth and urging caution about borrowing money from international financial institutions.

A discussion document dated 25 May, prepared for meetings of the alliance members, cited the use of so-called prescribed assets during the apartheid era to fund infrastructure.

South Africa has been ruled by the African National Congress, which is in an informal alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, since white-minority rule ended in 1994.

Attempts to fuel growth “must include a large drive toward domestic resource mobilization from both the public and private sectors,” according to the document seen by Bloomberg and verified by Cosatu.

Measures taken must include “among others, impact investments, interchangeably developmental and productive-asset investment requirements,” it said.

The alliance encouraged the use of both privately managed pensions and civil-servant retirement funds administered by the state-owned Public Investment Corp.

South Africa’s economy is forecast by the country’s central bank to contract 7% this year as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and the loss of the last investment-grade rating on the nation’s debt.

While South Africa has shunned the use of funds from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund in the democratic era, labour groups have now backed the government’s approach to the lender to seek $4.2 billion from its Covid-19 relief facility.

“International finance should therefore only be accepted if the conditions do not undermine, compromise or subvert South Africa’s national sovereignty, democracy or independence,” the document said.

It should “neither interfere with our domestic development policies and goals nor our fundamental right to self-determination,” it said.

Article by BusinessTech

Health officials in the Cape Metro will now only test for Covid-19 in people with comorbidities that are older than 55.

Everyone who accesses a health facility will get screened but only those who have symptoms and fall in the following categories will be tested:

• People already in hospital with Covid-19 symptoms.
• Health care workers with Covid-19 symptoms.
• People who are older than 55 with diabetes or hypertension and Covid-19 symptoms.
• People who are younger than 55 with underlying conditions and Covid-19 symptoms.
• People who live in a care home or an old age home with Covid-19 symptoms.

Pippa Hudson asked Dr Keith Cloete (Head of Health at the Western Cape Department of Health) why the approach to testing has changed.

We want to reduce mortality… our focus turns away from people least at risk… we want to preserve tests for where it makes the most difference…

Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health – Western Cape Department of Health

If you’re younger than 55 and you have symptoms, assume you have Covid-19… After 14 days, you’ll be fine… There’s no purpose in getting a test.

Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health – Western Cape Department of Health

Screening is vital…

Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health – Western Cape Department of Health

In other areas, you can still get tested. In the Metro, we’re at the point that we’re [only] looking at the vulnerable.

Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health – Western Cape Department of Health

 

Article by Capetalk

The high court has ruled that government’s lockdown regulations are not legal but they will nevertheless remain in place for at least the next 14 days.

Judge Norman Davis ruled in favour of Liberty Fighters Network, the Hola Bona Renaissance Foundation and attorney Reyno de Beer, after the group launched an urgent court challenge to the regulations.

The judge found that “little or in fact no regard was given to the extent of the impact of individual regulations on the constitutional rights of people and whether the extent of the limitation of their rights was justifiable or not”.

“The starting point was not ‘How can we as government limit constitutional rights in the least possible fashion whilst still protecting the inhabitants of South Africa?’ but rather ‘We will seek to achieve our goal by whatever means, irrespective of the costs, and we will determine, albeit incrementally, which constitutional rights you as the people of South Africa, may exercise,’” he said.

“The examples are too numerous to mention,” he said. “One need only to think of the irrationality in being allowed to buy a jersey but not undergarments or open-toed shoes and the criminalisation of many of the regulatory measures.”

Still, he said, some provisions passed muster.

“The cautionary regulations relating to education, prohibitions against evictions, initiation practices and the closures of night clubs and fitness centres, for example, as well as the closure of borders all appear to be rationally connected to the stated objectives,” Davis said.

Those regulations were unaffected by the order handed down.

The regulations around the ban on tobacco were also not affected, since those are subject to separate court challenges.

In terms of the remainder, the declaration of invalidity was suspended for 14 days, with the judge saying one must “be mindful of the fact that the Covid-19 danger is still with us … and to create a regulatory void might lead to unmitigated disaster and chaos”.

In the interim, he directed Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in consultation with the relevant ministers, to review, amend, and republish the regulations with “due consideration to the limitation each regulation has on the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights”.

Accountability Now’s Paul Hoffman SC said the judge had been careful to give government 14 days to remedy the lack of rationality of the measures he had declared unconstitutional and invalid.

“Either government is going to accept that Judge Davis is right and they are going to fix the regulations and make them rational or take the judgment on appeal,” Hoffman said.

He said in the case of the latter, there would likely be an argument about whether the relief granted should be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal.

Hoffman explained that the judgment did not have to be referred to the Constitutional Court for confirmation, though, because the high court was empowered to set aside regulations.

Cabinet said it would make a further statement once it had fully studied the judgment.

Article by TheCitizen

The administrators running South Africa’s embattled national airline proposed the government provide a 21 billion rand ($1.2 billion) bailout to help repay debt and resume operations after the lifting of Covid-19 travel bans.

The plan includes about 17 billion rand that will go toward repaying South African Airways creditors, the bulk of which was allocated by the National Treasury earlier this year, according to a draft copy seen by Bloomberg. A further 4 billion rand is needed for retrenchments and working capital, the proposal says.

The draft plan “is for discussion purposes only and we await comment from the affected persons,” a spokeswoman for the administrators said, adding that the team has until June 8 to finalize a rescue proposal. South Africa’s Public Enterprises Ministry, which is responsible for SAA, said it hasn’t yet discussed the plan and no decisions have been taken.

While the funding agreement has yet to be finalized, a deal of this nature would represent a truce between the government and SAA’s business-rescue team over the airline’s future. The administrators, appointed in December, had an earlier request for state funding rejected in April, and subsequently proposed firing the entire workforce to stave off liquidation.

Bright Future

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan strongly objected to that plan, and announced his ambitions for the creation of a new airline at the start of the month. President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated the government’s intention to revive SAA on Sunday, saying he sees a bright future for the carrier.

South Africa’s National Treasury put aside 16.4 billion rand to repay SAA’s creditors in February’s budget, although the funding has yet to be handed over. The carrier’s two biggest commercial lenders are Johannesburg-based rivals Nedbank Ltd. and Absa Group Ltd., according to the rescue plan. A short-term loan of 2 billion rand from a consortium of banks comes due by the end of July, as does a 3.5 billion-rand financing package from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

SAA’s commercial passenger planes have been grounded since late March, when the government closed borders for non-urgent travel to contain the coronavirus. Some domestic flights are being allowed to operate as of Monday for business purposes, though SAA had previously reduced its local services to a single Johannesburg-Cape Town route.

The administrators said they had identified two potential strategic investment partners before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the international aviation industry to its knees. A third company had shown an interest in forming an alliance, according to the draft plan. All talks are on hold while the industry recovers.

Article by Bloomberg

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga said on Monday the reopening of schools had to be postponed at the 11th hour because some were not ready to operate.

“Due to last minute changes, on Saturday we had a meeting with the CEM [council of education ministers] and union bodies. The decision we took on Saturday forced me to do a series of consultations on Sunday,” Motshekga said on Monday, apologising for the postponement.

The minister had engaged heads of department, teacher unions, school governing bodies, NGOs and organisations working with children who had special needs.

“On Saturday, we met and we received three critical reports – one on the state of readiness. We also received a report from Rand Water

“I also had to receive reports from different provinces. Based on those reports, it was clear the sector was at different stages of readiness,” said Motshekga.

She confirmed that schools would reopen next Monday.

She said this week would be used to induct teachers and to “mop up” in order to comply with the safety standards necessary to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

This week would be used to deliver protective equipment and water tanks to schools that needed them, Motshekga said.

On Sunday evening,  Motshekga’s office announced the postponement of a scheduled media briefing in which she was to update the nation about the readiness of schools as pupils in grades 7 and 12 were due to return to school.

Parents expressed their frustration about the last-minute U-turn, with many having already made arrangements to get their children back to class from June 1.

Article by TimesLive

British American Tobacco South Africa says it will on Friday recommence with urgent legal proceedings to challenge the government’s decision to extend the ban on tobacco sales during Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown.

The state says the ban is needed to safeguard public health, as evidence suggests cigarette smokers are more likely to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms than non-smokers.

BATSA, the country’s largest cigarette manufacturer, said in a statement it was supported in this action by Japan Tobacco International as well as “groups and organisations representing the tobacco value chain across the country, including consumers, tobacco farmers and retailers”.

“BATSA has made every effort to constructively engage with the government since the ban came into force, including making detailed submissions, along with other interested parties, to various Ministers, as well as directly to the Presidency,” it said in a statement.

“To date, no formal response has been received from the government, and BATSA has also not been included in any of the government’s consultation processes so far.”

The cigarette giant said the ban was threatening the survival of SA’s legal tobacco sector, which employs thousands.

The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association has already taken the government to court to challenge the ban in a separate case. While arguments have not yet been heard in that case, the state earlier in the week filed responding papers setting out its rationale for keeping the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products prohibited during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a tweet on Friday morning, FITA chairperson Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said the organisation’s case would be heard by the Pretoria High Court on 9 and 10 June.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the ban was implemented to decrease the potential strain on SA’s health system.

Dlamini-Zuma argued that, while Covid-19 is a relatively new disease, early studies support the view that using tobacco products increases not only the risk of catching the disease but also the risk of contracting a more serious form of the disease.

“This, in turn, increases strain on the public health system, by increasing the number of people who will need access to resources such as intensive care unit beds and ventilators,” she said.

Article by Fin24

There is no evidence that smoking would increase the transmission of the coronavirus, a cardiologist and antismoking researcher said on Thursday.

Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos told radio 702 in an interview that he did not understand why SA had taken the decision to ban the sale of cigarettes.

He said the reason most other countries had not done this in response to the pandemic was very simple.

“There is zero evidence that smoking will propagate or is in some way increasing the transmission of coronavirus. In fact, banning smoking in a pandemic can have very adverse effects.”

Co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in an affidavit submitted to the high court in Pretoria on Wednesday, said that banning the sale of tobacco products during the lockdown was aimed at protecting human life, health and reducing the potential strain on the health-care system.

Dlamini-Zuma was giving reasons for the decision in response to a challenge by the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita).

Farsalinos said that clinical observations, reported in published studies, indicated that nicotine — not the act of smoking tobacco — “may have some protective role to play in Covid-19″. Research had indicated that nicotine had anti-inflammatory properties.

The ban has had some adverse consequences, such as illicit tobacco sales. “Banning smoking is not a way for people to quit, it’s a way to create an explosion of the black market,” he said.

Farsalinos said quitting smoking would not necessarily be beneficial to a person who soon afterwards became infected with Covid-19.

“They are in reality smokers. It takes years for quitters to reverse the damage.”

Fita wants the court to set aside the government’s decision to temporarily ban the sale of tobacco products.

Dlamini-Zuma said in her responding court papers that the ban would see a “sizeable number of South Africans” quit smoking once the lockdown ended, with the “poor and youth … particularly likely to quit”.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that cigarettes would remain banned under level 3 of the lockdown, starting on June 1.

Article by Timeslive