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An exploratory study of the fiscal illusion of individual taxpayers in South Africa

Fiscal illusion is understood to be a concept that occurs where taxpayers do not always realize how much they contribute towards government revenue in the form of taxation, or how much they receive in the form of public goods and services (Dell’ Ánno&Mourao, 2011:2). The purpose of this study was to discover the originating causes of fiscal illusion amongst individual taxpayers in South Africa. To achieve this objective, available literature was reviewed, which revealed that complexity of the tax systems is argued to be one of the causes of fiscal illusion. A study conducted in South Africa suggested that taxpayer’s perception toward tax affects their attitude (Oberholzer, 2007:45). The hypothesis derived from the literature was then applied to a real life context by conducting interviews with a sample of individual taxpayers. Based on the analysis of data obtained, the study revealed that fiscal illusion of individual taxpayers in South Africa falls within four conceptual elements namely, hidden taxes, number of taxes, double taxation and, to a limited extent, tax shifting. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Taxation / unrestricted

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/27316
Date16 August 2013
CreatorsMhlungu, Lindelwa Letticia
ContributorsSteyn, Theunis Lodewikus, lindelwam@nedbank.co.za
PublisherUniversity of Pretoria
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Rights© 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria

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