University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng has urged South Africans to revive discussion about introducing a wealth tax, according to Business Times.
Phakeng is reported as saying: ‘Such a tax is necessary to catch well-heeled citizens who are operating under the radar.’
A discussion about this was essential ‘because of the inequalities that we have’.
‘The gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening and that’s the problem.”
Considering a wealth tax would be ‘a responsible thing’ to do at a time when ‘things are not getting better, people are not giving their money voluntarily’, and the wealthy were finding better ways of evading tax.
She suggested a wealth tax should be levied not only on those at the tip of the pyramid, but on everyone — including herself — making R3m a year or more.
‘When we talk about these things, people want it to affect the Ruperts only. I think it should affect them more but it should go down as well.
‘Sometimes I look around and I think actually, if each one of us gave a little bit of what we have, the country would be a little different. You don’t give from your excess, you give from what you have. That’s true giving. If you give from excess that’s like throwing away.’