In many a discussion and article about the tax burden in South Africa, figures are bandied about regarding the actual number of taxpayers in the country. The most popular figure seems to be "five million", but is it accurate?
In order to determine the number of actual taxpayers in South Africa, certain issues have to be placed in context first.
In the 2010/11 tax year, the most recent year for which figures are available, personal income tax represented just 33,7% of the state's tax revenue. Company tax made accounted for 19,7%, value-added tax (VAT) for 27% and taxes like the fuel levy and import tariffs made up the remaining 19,6% of tax revenue. However, it is important to bear in mind that the people who pay income tax are also, to a large extent, responsible for paying the other types of tax.
Company tax is by no means a tax on companies - it's a tax on the owners of companies. Company owners are individuals - shareholders - who are, to a great extent, also the people who pay income tax. The same goes for other taxes like import tariffs and fuel levies.
The people who buy the products that are subject to these taxes are also largely the ones who pay income tax. With respect to VAT, the tax burden probably leans somewhat more heavily towards people who don't earn enough to pay income tax, but not as much as might be expected, in view of the low buying power of people with low incomes. Moreover, numerous basic foodstuffs are not subjected to VAT. Low-income individuals spend a large portion of their income on zero-rated products - which is precisely why these products are zero-rated.
It is not possible to do exact calculations, but it can be accepted on the strength of the abovementioned reasons that the same people who are responsible for 33,7% of the state's tax revenue by paying income tax are the main contributors in respect of other taxes as well. In other words: There is a direct and positive correlation between the amount of personal income tax and the amount of other tax a person pays. For this reason, it is a worthwhile exercise to investigate how many people are responsible for paying income tax.