Thesis (M.Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2014. / At the 2013 budget presentation, the South African government indicated its intention to introduce carbon tax starting 1 January, 2015 at the rate of R120 per ton of Co2 equivalent. Prior research confirmed that carbon taxes have the potential to increase price levels, make exports uncompetitive and reinforce income inequality. It was suspected that the proposed carbon tax in the face of other similar taxes in South Africa would result in similar outcome. Furthermore, the socio-economic circumstance of South Africa could make the tax unfair to taxpayers. The object of this research was to evaluate the fairness of the proposed carbon tax in South Africa using the tenets of tax fairness Proposed by Smith (1776). The research methodology adopted was content analysis and correspondence analysis to analyse survey responses. The results of the analysis confirmed that the proposed carbon tax would result in price increases, make exports uncompetitive and reinforce income inequality. It was concluded that the proposed carbon tax would be unfair to taxpayers if implemented as currently designed

Thesis (M.A. (Anthropology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, 2016. / Governments, like South Africa, are implementing carbon tax and carbon credit programs to incent businesses to lower their GHG emissions. That is not to say there are not loftier motivations in the wider world, but in this study we have mostly encountered Homo Economicus. Our observations have noted that people either want to make money or save money by way of participating in the green economy. Earth’s threatening posture is yet to change our “habitus”. The changes so far are from economic coercion and not ecological conviction. And it’s primarily prompted through the scientific community, who are understandably, the first responders to a threat with slow and mostly imperceptible reverberations. The responses of those trying to make money, involve participating in the process of carbon commodification. CERs are a new form of currency available to those able to deploy labor and capital in efforts to capture carbon molecules and prevent their creation. The looming South African carbon tax has spurred organizations to lower their emissions so as not to effect bottom-line profitability. [Taken from the conclusion. No abstract provided] / MT2017

In 1997 industrialized nations, the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, met in Kyoto, Japan to sign a treaty (the “Kyoto Protocol”) in terms of which industrialized nations would be required to reduce their greenhouse gas emission by at least five percent below 1990 levels by the end of the “first commitment period” 2008-2012. South Africa is not regarded as an industrialized nation, but nonetheless acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. The literature reviewed in the present research reveals that, although idealistic, the Kyoto Protocol has been problematic. Fourteen meetings of the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol between 1997 and 2011 have achieved little more than to repeatedly defer and redefine Kyoto obligations. This research was undertaken to document the existing environmental taxation policies employed in selected international jurisdictions with a view to providing a framework for environmental tax policy formation in South Africa to assist this country in meeting its “greenhouse gas” emission targets, while at the same time promoting economic growth. A doctrinal research methodology was adopted in this study as it mainly analysed and interpreted legislation and policy documents and therefore the approach was qualitative in nature. An extensive literature survey was performed to document the various environmental policies that have been legislated in the selected jurisdictions. Comparisons were drawn with proposed tax policy measures for South Africa. The literature indicates that in the selected international jurisdictions carbon taxes achieved less-than-optimal results, largely due to political and industry-competitive agendas. With South Africa planning to introduce a carbon tax, it is submitted that the implementation of a carbon tax regime in isolation will be counter-productive, given South Africa’s economic profile. On the basis of the literature reviewed, it was concluded that South Africa should consider “recycling” carbon tax revenues within the economy to fund a broad-based tax incentive regime that will stimulate the change to non-carbon energy whilst promoting growth through sustainable development