There is an increasing focus on environmental conservation worldwide, evidenced by such
events as the signing of the Kyoto Protocol by developing countries, and by consumers
becoming more environmentally conscious. The purpose of this study was to investigate how
government could, through tax law, incentivise businesses to invest in environmental
conservation. One of the major South African industries contributing to the GDP is the wine
industry. South Africa, new in world wine production, is ranked among the top 10 wineproducing
countries, together with countries such as Australia. The average foreign consumer is
more environmentally conscious, which means that South African wineries also have to become
environmentally aware to ensure that their products are competitive in the foreign markets. A
negative aspect of investing in environmental conservation is that a substantial upfront capital
investment is normally required, which could lead to wineries not investing unless they can see
a significant benefit as a result.
Given this, the purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there is an income tax
benefit for wineries when investing in environmental conservation in terms of the Income Tax
Act no.58 of 1962 (hereafter “the Act”). Government can, through tax law, either reward people
for doing the right thing or punish them by imposing taxes for doing the wrong thing. The
sections of the Act that have been identified as incentivising environmental conservation are
Sections 11D, 12B, 12K, 12L, 37B and 37C, all with specific requirements before the incentives
can be used.
The study contains an analysis of the type of environmental conservation that wineries can carry
out and considers whether those conservation activities would enable them to use the
incentives stated in the Act. Some of the environmental conservation activities identified that
wineries could perform include the use of solar power to minimise their energy consumption,
thereby reducing their impact on the environment. Further, there are industrial codes which
encourage recycling and waste management, certain aspects of which would enable a winery to
use some of the sections in the Act.
The incentives available in the Income Tax Acts of other wine-producing countries, such as
France, Australia and the Oregon state in the USA, were also reviewed to see how the
incentives in their Acts compare with those in the South African Income Tax Act.
Lastly, a limited empirical study was conducted to determine the wineries’ perspective in respect
of the incentives indicated in the Act and whether or not they find that the incentives encourage
them to carry out further environmental conservation. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/15170 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | De Bruyn, Anna Jacoba |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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