IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2025-60.html

Tax effort and capacity in South Africa: A provincial perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Theshne Kisten
  • Mmalefa Motaung
  • Nhlonipho Sehlangu

Abstract

This paper estimates the tax capacity and tax effort of the nine provinces in South Africa, allowing for the assessment of the revenue-mobilizing ability of provinces and overall tax system efficiency. Provincial tax capacity and effort is estimated via a stochastic frontier approach using the true random effects model.

Suggested Citation

  • Theshne Kisten & Mmalefa Motaung & Nhlonipho Sehlangu, 2025. "Tax effort and capacity in South Africa: A provincial perspectives," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2025-60, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-60
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2025-60-tax-effort-and-capacity-south-africa.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leuthold, Jane H., 1991. "Tax shares in developing economies A panel study," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 173-185, January.
    2. Juan Camilo Galvis Ciro & Helder Ferreira de Mendonça, 2016. "Inflation targeting credibility and sovereign risk: evidence from Colombia," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(14), pages 984-990, September.
    3. Bird, Richard M. & Zolt, Eric M., 2005. "The limited role of the personal income tax in developing countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 928-946, December.
    4. António Afonso & Ana Patricia Montes & José M. Domínguez, 2025. "A dynamic efficiency analysis for tax revenues in OECD countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 52(2), pages 377-411, May.
    5. Antonio Ciccone & Elias Papaioannou, 2009. "Human Capital, the Structure of Production, and Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 66-82, February.
    6. Agumas Alamirew Mebratu, 2023. "Tax revenue inefficiency and political risk factors: The Hen or The egg?," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2167546-216, December.
    7. Richard M. Bird & Eric M. Zolt, 2005. "Redistribution via Taxation: The Limited Role of the Personal Income Tax in Developing Countries (2005)," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0507, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Martínez-Vázquez, Jorge & Vulovic, Violeta, 2013. "Taxation and Economic Growth in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4583, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Ouedraogo, Benoît & Ouedraogo, Idrissa & Sawadogo, Hamidou, 2025. "Effects of trade openness on income inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: direct effects and transmission channels," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Paul E. Carrillo & M. Shahe Emran & Anita Rivadeneira, 2011. "Do Cheaters Bunch Together? Profit Taxes, Withholding Rates and Tax Evasion," Working Papers 2011-03, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    4. Mark Edem Kunawotor & Charles Barnor & Raymond Dziwornu, 2021. "The Income Redistributive Effects of Taxes in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1579-1591.
    5. Kalle Hirvonen & Giulia Mascagni & Keetie Roelen, 2018. "Linking taxation and social protection: Evidence on redistribution and poverty reduction in Ethiopia," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(1), pages 3-24, January.
    6. Palić Irena & Hodžić Sabina & Dumičić Ksenija, 2019. "Personal Income Taxation Determinants in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 10(1), pages 153-163, April.
    7. Richard M. Bird & Eric M. Zolt, 2014. "Taxation and inequality in the Americas: Changing the fiscal contract?," Chapters, in: Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), Taxation and Development: The Weakest Link?, chapter 7, pages 193-237, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. M. Govinda Rao & R. Kavita Rao, 2005. "Trends and Issues in Tax Policy and Reform in India," India Policy Forum, Global Economy and Development Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 2(1), pages 55-122.
    9. Nihal BAYRAKTAR & Emmanuel PINTO MOREIRA, 2008. "The Composition of Public Expenditure and Growth: A Small-scale Intertemporal Model for Low-Income Countries," EcoMod2008 23800009, EcoMod.
    10. Nguyen-Phung, Hang Thu & DAO, Trieu Minh, 2026. "Elderly Dependence and Intergenerational Support in Vietnam: A Descriptive Perspective," AGI Working Paper Series 2025-18, Asian Growth Research Institute.
    11. Helene Ehrhart, 2013. "Elections and the structure of taxation in developing countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 195-211, July.
    12. Joseph Teyu Chou & Chien-Hao Fu, 2022. "Which Families Benefited from the Recent Personal Income Tax Reform in Taiwan: Evidence from the Administrative Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 433-451, September.
    13. Matilde Jeppesen, 2021. "What we hoped for and what we achieved: Tax performance of Semi‐Autonomous Revenue Authorities in sub‐Saharan Africa," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(3), pages 115-127, August.
    14. Saeed Solaymani, 2020. "Assessing the economic and social impacts of fiscal policies," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(3), pages 671-694, March.
    15. repec:idq:ictduk:13711 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Kim, Junghun, 2005. "Tax reform issues in Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 973-992, December.
    17. Mr. Michael Keen, 2012. "Taxation and Development: Again," IMF Working Papers 2012/220, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2020. "Are incomes and property taxes effective instruments for tax transition?," CERDI Working papers hal-03053683, HAL.
    19. Karmali,Nadeem M. & Aline Weng, 2022. "Housing Demand and Affordability in India : Implications for Housing Policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10031, The World Bank.
    20. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, 2013. "Taxation and Development: a Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    21. Abdul-Aziz, Abdul-Rashid & Loh, Cheng-Lit & Jaafar, Mastura, 2014. "Malaysia's My Second Home (MM2H) Programme: An examination of Malaysia as a destination for international retirees," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 203-212.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.