Why does Tax Justice affect me?

Taxation is often thought of as just being a technical economic issue outside the sphere of influence of ordinary people or civil society organisations. In reality it is a deeply political matter and so is a site of contestation using the tools of engagement in our democracy if we want it to be used more effectively as a tool for greater fairness, better redistribution and inclusive development.

Why is this so important in South Africa, today?

South Africa is the most unequal country in the world.

The richest 10% own 86% of the country’s wealth, and yet around 15-million people experience daily food insecurity, and more than 12-million people are unemployed - and so don’t have access to any income to meet their basic needs.

Despite these conditions, the government has consistently rejected progressive tax reforms that could fund better social protection and reduce inequality.

Instead, the National Treasury has pursued austerity in public spending and relied on regressive tax measures, including:

• Cutting the rate of tax paid by companies (Corporate Income Tax) and
• Increasing the fuel levy in the petrol price paid by people.

In 2025, tax justice advocates managed to defeat a proposal by the National Treasury to  increase the rate of VAT in 2025, which would have affected poor people more than rich, because we all pay the same rate of VAT.

Despite SA’s really high and unsustainable levels of inequality, calls for more fair taxation of wealth have been rejected by government, with no clear alternative policy being introduced to even up our inequality.

South Africa’s fiscal policy (how the government uses its tax and spending rules to shape the national economy) is shaped by competing political and economic interests both in South Africa and internationally.

There is a growing global call for more progressive taxation of the super rich. This includes the 2025 launch of the Seville Platform to Tax the Super-Rich at the UN’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, and the adoption of the draft Terms of Reference for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation in 2024.

But this has not yet translated into real tax reform in South Africa. Join us as we try to change this. Join the South African Tax Justice Working Group!

2026 Programme of Action

Seminar Series: Tax Justice for an Equal Future

This series explores tax justice as a fundamental question of democracy, accountability, and power  and it gives people a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and alliance-building among civil society organisations, researchers, labour, social movements, and regional and international tax justice actors.

Through these discussions, the Working Group aims to strengthen support for progressive tax reform, foster informed public debate, and develop a shared advocacy agenda.

The series also raises awareness of international tax developments and draws on international experience to inform tax justice advocacy in South Africa.

Kick-off seminar: Understanding the South African tax Landscape (28 July 2026)

The first seminar, Understanding the South African Tax Landscape, was held as a hybrid seminar in Johannesburg on 28 July 2026.

The two speakers were Mzwandile Ngidi, lecturer at the African Tax Institute , and Thoko Madonko, Senior Project Lead at Ilifa Labantwana.

Key Take Aways:

• Tax is not only a means of raising revenue to finance public services but also a key instrument for redistribution, reducing inequality, and strengthening democratic accountability.
• Tax policy reflects political choices by government and all members of parliament about the class interests of the state, who pays taxes and how the state chooses to spend this money and how seriously the state takes its promise to reduce inequality.
• Tax was historically used to advance the economic and social extraction from land and labour in favour of colonial and apartheid-era economic arrangements. However despite the new democratic Constitution, the fundamentals of tax policy have not been changed to reduce past and new inequalities.
• The growing reliance on indirect taxes, particularly VAT, places a disproportionate burden on lower-income households, while wealth remains comparatively undertaxed.
• Corporate tax incentives, aggressive tax planning, illicit financial flows, and weak tax administration reduce public revenue and undermine people’s trust in the tax system.

We need better data, greater transparency, sustained public engagement, and closer collaboration across sectors to win better tax justice!

Looking ahead: Upcoming seminars for 2026

September: How can South Africa’s income tax system be reformed to reduce inequality and raise public revenue?

The seminar will cover:

• Key proposals for progressive income tax reform, common objections and counterarguments
• The distribution of the tax burden across society (who pays what)?
• How can SARS address corporate tax avoidance?

The rest of the seminar series for 2026  will cover:

• The potential for a wealth tax in South Africa
• Lessons from tax reforms in other countries of the Global South, and
• The relationship between taxation and democracy.

Organisations interested in advancing tax justice in South Africa are invited to join the Tax Justice Working Group, including civil society organisations, trade unions, grassroots movements, researchers, and regional and international partners. Reach out to Chloé at chloe@aidc.org.za or on 0828924702 to join.

Written by Nondumiso Mnyandu, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; Lorena Yameogo, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; and Isobel Frye, Oxfam International, who are part of the SA Tax Justice Working Group