OECD Backs South African Carbon Tax Plans

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recommended that South Africa speed the implementation of a carbon tax to leverage fiscal space to enhance the tax regime. It has recommended that an environmental levy could provide a significant new revenue stream that would allow authorities to cut taxes on corporate profits and improve job creation and employment incentives to foster stronger economic growth.

SARS and your bank account

On 29 February 2012, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) issued a notice in Government Gazette No 35090 (Notice No 173) relating to the liability of certain institutions, most notably banks, to furnish SARS with financial information about taxpayers. The notice was issued in terms of s69 of the Income Tax Act, No 58 of 1962, which section has been superseded by s26 of the Tax Administration Act, No 28 of 2011 (TAA).

Carbon taxes

We have been following the space on the proposed Carbon Tax carefully. There is currently a lot of controversy in Australia concerning a Carbon Tax. Julia Gillard the Prime Minister, said when speaking on a wind farm in New South Wales “the government is committed to a renewable energy target, that 20% of the energy that we use comes from renewable energy sources by 2020, but that renewable energy target was always designed to work with the price on carbon”. Her belief is that to build towards a clean energy future it is imperative for the Australians to price and tax carbon emissions. It appears that that price will