This book, marking the 2014 centenary of income tax in South Africa, presents historical research covering a range of topics.

The authors begin with the international origins of income tax law and the transformation of old Dutch taxes into colonial income tax, and the role of General Smuts in the introduction of income tax in 1914.

The struggle to find an appropriate means of taxing corporate profits of shareholders is shown to have continued for decades, and mining and farming as main industry players in the South African economy receive special attention. The demise of cooperatives, the history of international tax treaties and the colonial influence also form part of the historical journey of this publication.

An examination of the special qualities of leading judges of the time and their jurisprudence provides much food for thought. Policy debates such as whether South Africa should follow the source or the residence system of taxation, or introduce a land tax, rage today as they did in 1914.

The impact of transformation since 1994, the need to entrench taxpayers’ rights and to remove gender inequality, and the remarkable modernisation of SARS, all played an important part in the development of the South African tax system.

A book about one hundred years of income tax would not be complete without some biographical notes on key personalities such as CJ Ingram KC, Aubrey Silke and David Meyerowitz SC. In recognising the conference held at the University of Cape Town to mark one hundred years of income tax in South Africa, the rise of the teaching of tax at UCT is presented in the form of an extract from the memoirs of Prof Leon Kritzinger.

“I congratulate the authors and editors for their work in this book. Not only will it be the standard reference on the development of income tax in South Africa, but also, for those interested in tax as a vital social and economic issue, it provides entertaining, informative and enlightening reading.’’ – Richard Vann, Challis Professor of Law, University of Sydney

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW PAGE EXTRACTS.

• Part 1: The international origins of income tax in South Africa and its introduction    
  • Importing and exporting income tax law: The international origins of the South African Income Tax Act – Peter Harris
  • The history of income taxation in the Cape Colony: A story of dangerous beasts and murderous fathers – Enelia Jansen van Rensburg
  • On the introduction of income tax in South Africa by JC Smuts: Three eventful months (24 April 1914 to 20 July 1914) – Johann Hattingh
  • The birth of the first Income Tax Act: The journey begins – Peter Surtees
• Part 2: The taxation of companies, shareholders and partnerships            
  • Corporate-shareholder taxation in South Africa: 1914 to 1961 – Johann Hattingh
  • The road to dividend withholding tax in South African income tax law (1962 to 2014) – Jennifer Roeleveld
  • A review of the taxation of partnerships in South Africa over the last 100 years - Afton Titus
• Part 3: The taxation of mining, farming and co-operative enterprises
  • South Africa’s gold mining tax regime – Roshelle Ramfol
  • The history of the taxation of farming in South Africa – Charl du Toit
  • The development of the taxation of co-operatives – Tracy Johnson, Jennifer Roeleveld
• Part 4: Income tax jurisprudence
  • A century of income tax jurisprudence in South Africa – Eddie Broomberg
  • Some missteps on South Africa’s road to a coherent income tax jurisprudence – RC Williams
• Part 5: International tax
  • From colonialism to apartheid: International influence on tax treaties in South Africa (1932 to 1990) – Craig West
  • Ensuring a right balance in applying the residence and source bases of taxation in order to protect South Africa’s tax base – Annet Wanyana Oguttu
• Part 6: Constitutional, policy and gender issues
  • The shift to a constitutional democracy in 1994 and the impact thereof on tax law in South Africa – Beric J Croome
  • Land tax versus income tax: A historical assessment of success and failure in South Africa – Nicolaus Tideman, Peter Meakin
  • The personal income taxation of women in South Africa: An overview since the 1970s – Elizabeth Gavin, Wynnona Steyn
• Part 7: Major figures in the development of income tax in South Africa
  • CJ Ingram K.C.: Academic pioneer and second President of the Cape Tax Court – Albertus Marais
  • Aubrey Silke – Adapted courtesy of the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners 
  • David Meyerowitz SC – Adapted courtesy of the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners
  • Memoirs of Prof. Leon Kritzinger: Aubrey Silke and the importance of postgraduate tax studies at the University of Cape Town – Leon Kritzinger
• Part 8: The evolution of the South African Revenue Service: 1994 to 2014 - SARS
• Table of cases
• Table of statutes

• Tax academics and post-graduate students
• Tax practitioners
• Tax historians and researchers