IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers159.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Improving the targeting of zero-rated basic foodstuffs under value added tax (VAT) in South Africa - An exploratory analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Ada Jansen

    (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)

  • Elizabeth Stoltz

    (Department of Economics, University of the Western Cape)

  • Derek Yu

    (Department of Economics, University of Western Cape)

Abstract

VAT without any exemptions or zero-rating is regressive. Since the inception of VAT in South Africa, there has been an ongoing debate around the issue of zero-rating to alleviate the burden on poor households. This paper uses vegetables as an example and conducts tax incidence analyses to compare the relative burden of VAT on vegetables for various income groups. It finds that differential treatment of the zero-rating of VAT on various categories of vegetables could be beneficial in terms of relative equity gains. It is suggested frozen vegetables remains zero-rated, whereas canned vegetables and some fresh vegetables items be zero-rated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ada Jansen & Elizabeth Stoltz & Derek Yu, 2012. "Improving the targeting of zero-rated basic foodstuffs under value added tax (VAT) in South Africa - An exploratory analysis," Working Papers 07/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2012/wp072012/wp-07-2012.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ms. Sònia Muñoz & Stanley Sang-Wook Cho, 2003. "Social Impact of a Tax Reform: The Case of Ethiopia," IMF Working Papers 2003/232, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Bird, Richard M., 2008. "Tax challenges facing developing countries," Working Papers 08/als1, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    3. Servaas van der Berg, 2009. "Fiscal incidence of social spending in South Africa, 2006," Working Papers 10/2009, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Alderman, Harold & del Ninno, Carlo, 1999. "Poverty Issues for Zero Rating VAT in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 8(2), pages 182-208, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sandra Boatemaa Kushitor & Scott Drimie & Rashieda Davids & Casey Delport & Corinna Hawkes & Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi & Mjabuliseni Ngidi & Rob Slotow & Laura M. Pereira, 2022. "The complex challenge of governing food systems: The case of South African food policy," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(4), pages 883-896, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Martorano, Bruno, 2017. "Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, determinants and consequences: Inequality and Growth in an Agricultural-led Development Model: The case of Ethiopia over 1995-2011," UNDP Africa Reports 267649, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    2. Sijbren Cnossen, 2015. "Mobilizing VAT revenues in African countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(6), pages 1077-1108, December.
    3. Kalle Hirvonen & Giulia Mascagni & Keetie Roelen, 2018. "Linking taxation and social protection: Evidence on redistribution and poverty reduction in Ethiopia," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(1), pages 3-24, January.
    4. Céline DE QUATREBARBES & Luc SAVARD & Dorothée BOCCANFUSO, 2011. "Can the removal of VAT Exemptions support the Poor? The Case of Niger," Working Papers 201106, CERDI.
    5. Rodrigo Cubero & Ivanna Vladkova Hollar, 2010. "Equity and Fiscal Policy: The Income Distribution Effects of Taxation and Social Spending in Central America," IMF Working Papers 2010/112, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Pierre Bachas & Lucie Gadenne & Anders Jensen, 2024. "Informality, Consumption Taxes, and Redistribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(5), pages 2604-2634.
    7. Ahrens, Joachim & Schweickert, Rainer & Zenker, Juliane, 2011. "Varieties of capitalism, governance and government spending: A cross-section analysis," PFH Forschungspapiere/Research Papers 2011/01, PFH Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen.
    8. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa & Bruno Martorano & Giovanni Andrea Cornia, "undated". "Inequality and Growth in an Agricultural-led Development Model: The case of Ethiopia over 1995-2011," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2017-14, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    9. John Cockburn & Hélène Maisonnave & Véronique Robichaud & Luca Tiberti, 2013. "Fiscal Space and Public Spending on Children in Burkina Faso," Cahiers de recherche 1308, CIRPEE.
    10. repec:ilo:ilowps:485483 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. repec:idq:ictduk:13711 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Mr. Michael Keen, 2012. "Taxation and Development: Again," IMF Working Papers 2012/220, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, 2013. "Taxation and Development: a Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Mohammed Abdullahi Umar & Chek Derashid & Idawati Ibrahim, 2017. "What Is Wrong With the Fiscal Social Contract of Taxation in Developing Countries? A Dialogue With Self-Employed Business Owners in Nigeria," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(4), pages 21582440177, December.
    15. Ms. Sònia Muñoz & Stanley Sang-Wook Cho, 2003. "Social Impact of a Tax Reform: The Case of Ethiopia," IMF Working Papers 2003/232, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Harold Alderman, 2016. "Leveraging Social Protection Programs for Improved Nutrition," World Bank Publications - Reports 24450, The World Bank Group.
    17. Woldu, Thomas & Abebe, Girum & Lamoot, Indra & Minten, Bart, 2013. "Urban food retail in Africa: The case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 50, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Belal Fallah, 2014. "The Pros and Cons of Formalizing Informal MSES in the Palestinian Economy," Working Papers 893, Economic Research Forum, revised Dec 2014.
    19. Asatryan, Zareh & Gomtsyan, David, 2020. "The incidence of VAT evasion," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Oya Pinar Ardic & Burcay Erus & Gurcan Soydan, 2010. "An evaluation of indirect taxes in Turkey," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(4), pages 2787-2801.
    21. Levin, Mark (Левин, Марк) & Matrosova, Kseniya (Матросова, Ксения), 2017. "Development and Analysis of Economic Models of Innovation Incentives [Разработка И Исследование Экономических Моделей Стимулирования Инновационных Процессов]," Working Papers 061713, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Value added tax; expenditure patterns; regressivity; zero-rating; equity gain; optimal targeting; basic foodstuffs; sub-categories of vegetables; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Melt van Schoor (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desunza.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.