Viability of a rural land tax in South Africa

Abstract

Although South African landowners have been subject to various forms of land tax in the past, the ownership (or occupation) of agricultural land is not taxed at present. Despite the fact that white agricultural landowners are strongly opposed to the possible introduction of a rural land tax, political and fiscal pressures in present‐day South Africa seem to suggest that the imposition of such a tax is inevitable. It is suggested that it could be equitable, and would be administratively feasible, to levy, assess and collect a rural land tax at local government level within the commercial farming sub‐sector, but that levying such a tax on subsistence farmers occupying communal land poses serious problems.

Citation

Franzsen, R.C.D. (1995), "Viability of a rural land tax in South Africa", Property Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 21-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/02637479510147293