Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This study investigated whether the way in which dividends are taxed in South Africa, with the introduction of Secondary Tax on Companies (STC) in 1993, together with the extensive piece of legislation which incorporates dividends, has a negative impact on the total amount of dividends paid by companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the period from 1993 to 2006. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranked test was employed to compare the difference in total dividends declared, effective from 1993 and repeated for 1995. The results of the negative differences in proportion to the positive differences measured were then compared to the size of STC applicable in 1993 and 1995. The results of the comparison were that STC had no negative effect on the total dividends paid on the companies used in the sample and the majority of companies constantly increased dividend payments. The study did not distinguish between the different origins of dividends as research advises that the origins of dividends have changed during the increase and decrease of STC. It does seem that total dividends declared are increasing.

In a progressive income tax system with an individual tax unit, high-rate taxpayers have an incentive to split income with lower-rate family members to minimise the family’s total tax burden. This raises equity and neutrality concerns. Adopting a spousal tax unit limits the gains from income splitting, but the individual is the better choice on privacy, autonomy, equality, definitional, marriage neutrality and work incentive grounds. Once the individual is chosen as the income tax unit, the control model provides a strong policy basis for attributing both earned and unearned income to individuals. Income splitting, however, undermines this model as well as the individual tax unit. This thesis focuses on the UK’s approach to income-splitting in family businesses. The relevant UK income tax rules, particularly the settlements provisions, are inadequate for the task. Various possible reforms are examined. Incorporating a transfer pricing or ‘reasonableness’ test into the settlements provisions would strengthen these rules, but would make taxpayer compliance with an uncertain regime even more difficult. Another option is to expand the scope of employment tax by moving the borderline between employees and the self-employed or companies. Deeper structural reforms could be made to enhance the neutrality of taxation on different legal forms of economic activity. This would reduce the incentives to incorporate for tax savings, including from income splitting. Integration of income tax and NICs is one such option; a dual income tax is another. A TAAR or GAAR also could be pursued. Ultimately, some combination of these various reform options could provide a partial solution to this challenging issue.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce (Specialising in Taxation) / Obesity and overweight caused by overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (‘SSBs’) are a problem in South Africa, as in most countries. It was for this reason that the Minister of Finance announced in the February 2016 Budget a decision to introduce a tax on SSBs with effect from 1 April 2017 to help reduce excessive sugar intake and tackle non-communicable diseases. Previously, South Africa had introduced similar legislation but abolished it in April 2002 after a nine-year period (BDO, 2012.) In order to determine the impact of the sugar tax in South Africa, the sugar tax was compared to similar taxes implemented in other tax jurisdictions, namely, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Denmark, and also to other similar taxes levied in South Africa. The question which the research addressed is whether a sugar tax could be used as a tool to decrease the rising rate of obesity in South Africa and therefore to improve the general health of South Africans (effective tax). The tax on SSBs may have its shortcomings but, depending upon the administrative and support structures put in place to deal with it, it will be an effective tax. In other words, the introduction of a sugar tax should reduce overweight and obesity. / GR2018

With players in the National Football League (NFL) making what seems to be the most money out of any entry-level position, it might come as a shock to many people to hear that so many players end up in financial distress afterwards. Sports Illustrated has put this number at 78% of players filing for bankruptcy or are in serious financial trouble within only two years of leaving the league (Torre). The problems that the players run into are their short careers, which average 3 ½ years, their poor financial decisions and their very optimistic approach to life. The 3 ½ years means that they should approach their employment as more of a lottery winning than a long term career. With so much income, the players might want to take out large mortgages and could be in trouble. They would believe that they would be the exception and not the rule for this because they are constantly succeeding as well. The players should set up a budget to fix this. They should defer the maximum amount of compensation possible and invest most of the rest. The athletes should have enough still to have a comfortable few years in the NFL. The football players should also be smart and get a college degree while they can for free.

Inom EU upprätthålls en inre marknad där fri rörlighet för varor, personer, tjänster och kapital säkerställs. Friheterna innebär att all diskriminering på grund av nationalitet i med-lemsstaternas nationella lagstiftning ska avskaffas, vilket följer av EU-rättens företräde framför nationell lagstiftning när regelverken kolliderar. Om en lagstiftning verkar begränsande för någon av dessa friheter måste reglerna rättfärdi-gas eller ändras. Rättfärdigande kan ske genom de fördragsstadgade undantagen eller ge-nom ett undantag som accepterats i EU-domstolens rule of reason-doktrin. De svenska reglerna för uttagsbeskattning har under de senaste åren utvecklats efter EU-rättens praxis. Senast i november i fjol meddelade EU-domstolen ett avgörande som änd-rade förutsättningarna för rättfärdigandet av begränsningar av etableringsfriheten. Den 1 januari i år uppdaterades anståndsreglerna för inbetalningen av uttagsskatten. Frågan är nu huruvida den svenska uttagsbeskattningen är förenlig med etableringsfriheten. Enligt min bedömning verkar den svenska uttagsbeskattningen begränsande för utövandet av etableringsfriheten. Det beror på att det finns en diskrepans för hur bolag beskattas be-roende på om de flyttar eller behåller sin hemvist inom Sverige. Begränsningen kan dock motiveras enligt rule of reason-doktrinens rättfärdigandegrund om fördelningen av be-skattningsrätten mellan medlemsstaterna i enlighet med territorialitetsprincipen. I stort kan jag inte anse annat än att lagstiftningen även är proportionerlig mot detta syfte, men det finns situationer som aktualiserar ett krav på att den skattskyldige ska ställa säkerhet för in-betalningen av skatten, vilket jag anser är ett strängare krav på den skattskyldige än vad som kan anses vara motiverat. / Within EU an internal market is maintained where free movement of goods, people, ser-vices and capital are ensured. These freedoms mean that all discrimination on grounds of nationality in domestic laws should be abolished, which is a result of EU’s superiority which cannot be overridden by domestic law. If a law seems limiting of any of these freedoms, the rules must be justified or changed. The limitation can be justified by either the exceptions enacted in the Treaty or by the prin-ciple of rule of reason. The Swedish rules of exit-taxation have during the last years been developed after EU law practice. In November last year the Court of Justice of the European Union announced a preliminary ruling which changed the conditions for justifications of restrictions on the freedom of establishment. On January first this year, the domestic rules of granting of de-ferment of the payment of the exit-tax were renewed. The question now is whether the Swedish exit-taxation is compatible with the freedom of establishment. In my opinion the Swedish exit-taxation can have a restricting effect for the use of the freedom of establishment. This is because there is an inconsistency on how companies are taxed, depending on whether they move or keep their habitual residence in Sweden. The restriction may however be justified by the principle rule of reason by the purpose of en-suring the balanced allocation of powers of taxation between the Member States, in accor-dance with the principle of fiscal territoriality. Generally I cannot consider otherwise than that the legislation also is proportionate to that purpose, but there are situations when the taxpayer is required to provide a bank guarantee to secure the payment of the tax, which I think is a more stringent requirement on the taxpayer than can be justified.

Univ., Diss.--Trier, 2006.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

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