Tax Policy Considerations for a Robot Tax in South Africa

Mhlanguli Nare ()
Additional contact information
Mhlanguli Nare: University of South Africa

A chapter in Towards Digitally Transforming Accounting and Business Processes, 2024, pp 835-852 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Enhancements in automation brings with it several benefits to workplace efficiencies but also places funding risks to the fiscus. This has potential for creating fiscal shortfall as payroll taxes decrease, thus a need to protect the erosion of the tax base. Should this labour displacement exponentially increase and is left uncurbed, it has potential for negative societal effects for the displaced workers and society at large. Balancing the benefits of automation with the potential revenue implications poses a challenge for policymakers. Addressing the taxation of robots in South Africa requires a comprehensive understanding of the economic, social, and technological dynamics at play. This desktop literature review qualitative study applies the principles of the Theory of Optimal Taxation and Laffer Curve Theory to explore the option of a tax on robots. The study concludes that current tax legislation favours automation (capital tax) as compared to human labour tax (payroll tax) and a change in policy to achieve tax neutrality between the two is imperative to avoid arbitrary. The article suggests a range of mechanisms and associated fiscal policy reforms that can be inextricably adopted.

Keywords: Automation; Human labour; Policy reform; Robots; Tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-46177-4_45

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031461774

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-46177-4_45

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().