IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2018-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Revisiting the impact of direct taxes and transfers on poverty and inequality in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mashekwa Maboshe
  • Ingrid Woolard

Abstract

This paper uses a recent household survey and the CEQ framework to revisit and extend previous research on the impact of fiscal policy on income redistribution, and poverty in South Africa. We find, in accordance with previous research, that direct taxes and cash transfers are overall progressive and reduce inequality and poverty. Our disaggregated analyses, however, reveal that medical and interest tax benefits are regressive. We also find that certain social transfers provided to some minority population groups are not particularly well targeted.

Suggested Citation

  • Mashekwa Maboshe & Ingrid Woolard, 2018. "Revisiting the impact of direct taxes and transfers on poverty and inequality in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-79, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2018-79
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2018-79.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nora Lustig, 2017. "Fiscal Policy, Income Redistribution and Poverty Reduction in Low and Middle Income Countries - Working Paper 448," Working Papers 448, Center for Global Development.
    2. Nora Lustig, 2017. "Fiscal Policy, Income Redistribution and Poverty Reduction in Low and Middle Income Countries," Working Papers 1701, Tulane University, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2017.
    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. Yaru, Mohammed Aminu & Adisa-Ohiaka, Ubaydah, 2022. "Indirect Taxation and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Empirical Evidence from Panel Data Analysis," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 10(5), December.
    2. Aroop Chatterjee & Léo Czajka & Amory Gethin, 2021. "Can Redistribution Keep Up with Inequality? Evidence from South Africa, 1993-2019," Working Papers halshs-03364039, HAL.
    3. Janina Hundenborn & Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 2016. "Drivers of Inequality in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 194, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    4. Janina Hundenborn & Ingrid Woolard & Murray Leibbrandt, 2016. "Drivers of Inequality in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 194, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    5. Joseph Nyamapheni & Zurika Robinson, 2021. "Determinants of Tax Morale: Cross-Sectional Evidence from Africa," The Journal of Accounting and Management, Danubius University of Galati, issue 3(11), pages 84-99, December.
    6. Murray Leibbrandt & Vima Ranchhod & Pippa Green, 2018. "Taking stock of South African income inequality," WIDER Working Paper Series 184, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Amina Ebrahim & Rebone Gcabo & Lilian Khumalo & Jukka Pirttilä, 2019. "Tax research in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-9, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Murray Leibbrandt & Vimal Ranchhod & Pippa Green, 2018. "Taking stock of South African income inequality," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-184, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Haydeeliz Carrasco & Hamidou Jawara & Moritz Meyer, 2022. "The Effects Of Fiscal Policy On Inequality And Poverty In The Gambia," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 117, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    10. Jeanne Terblanche & Dawie van Lill & Hylton Hollander, 2023. "Fiscal policy and dimensions of inequality in South Africa: A time-varying coefficient approach," Working Papers 05/2023, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.

    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. German Feierherd & Patricio Larroulet & Wei Long, & Nora Lustig, 2021. "The Pink Tide and Inequality in Latin America," Working Papers 2105, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    2. Peter H. Lindert, 2017. "The Rise and Future of Progressive Redistribution," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 73, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    3. Bienvenido Ortega & Jesús Sanjuán & Antonio Casquero, 2019. "Illicit Financial Flows: Another Road Block to Human Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 1231-1253, April.
    4. Ardanaz, Martín & Izquierdo, Alejandro, 2022. "Current expenditure upswings in good times and public investment downswings in bad times? New evidence from developing countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 118-134.
    5. Popova, Daria, 2023. "Impact of equity in social protection spending on income poverty and inequality," Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series CEMPA10/23, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Burchi, Francesco & Malerba, Daniele & Rippin, Nicole & Montenegro, Claudio E., 2019. "Comparing global trends in multidimensional and income poverty and assessing horizontal inequalities," IDOS Discussion Papers 2/2019, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    7. Daria Popova, 2023. "Impact of Equity in Social Protection Spending on Income Poverty and Inequality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 697-721, September.
    8. Pierce O’Reilly, 2018. "Tax policies for inclusive growth in a changing world," OECD Taxation Working Papers 40, OECD Publishing.
    9. Richard M. Bird, 2018. "Are global taxes feasible?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1372-1400, October.
    10. Mashekwa Maboshe & Ingrid Woolard, 2018. "Revisiting the impact of direct taxes and transfers on poverty and inequality in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 79, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Lukas Salecker & Anar K. Ahmadov & Leyla Karimli, 2020. "Contrasting Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty Measures in a Low-Income Sub-Saharan African Country," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 547-574, September.
    12. Nora Lustig & Jon Jellema & Valentina Martinez Pabon, 2023. "Are Budget Neutral Income Floors Fiscally Viable in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 202-227.
    13. Francesco Burchi & Markus Loewe & Daniele Malerba & Julia Leininger, 2022. "Disentangling the Relationship Between Social Protection and Social Cohesion: Introduction to the Special Issue," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1195-1215, June.
    14. Sally Torbert, 2022. "Impact Of Taxes And Transfers On Inequality In The Asia-Pacific Region," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 29(1), pages 43-65, May.
    15. P. Facundo Cuevas & Leonardo Lucchetti & Metin Nebiler, 2020. "What are the Poverty and Inequality Impacts of Fiscal Policy in Turkey?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 100, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    16. Maya Goldman & Ingrid Woolard & Jon Jellema, 2021. "The Impact of Taxes and Transfers on Poverty and Income Distribution in South Africa 2014/15," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 106, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    17. EDO Onome Christopher, 2021. "Direct Taxes and Income Redistribution in Nigeria," GATR Journals gjbssr596, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    18. Nora Lustig & Jon Jellema & Valentina Martinez Pabon, 2019. "Leaving No One Behind: Can Tax-Funded Transfer Programs Provide Income Floors in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 85, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    19. Nora Lustig, 2018. "Measuring the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth: State of Play and Measurement Challenges," Working Papers 1801, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    20. Jose Cuesta & Mario Negre & Ana Revenga & Maika Schmidt, 2018. "Tackling Income Inequality: What Works and Why?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-48, March.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2018-79. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.