The short answer, according to Paul Joubert of the Solidarity Research Institute, is:
Actually, only 3,3 million taxpayers pay 99% of all income tax, while only 2,3 million pay 93% and 1,5 million are responsible for 84% of income tax.
The slightly longer one is:
Although 10,3 million people were registered for income tax in the 2011/12 tax year, only around 4,8 million had to submit tax returns. Joubert says 0,2 million can immediately be subtracted from the 4,8 million because they had no taxable income. ‘Moreover, there were around 1,3 million people who contributed only 1% of the total amount of income tax for the year. An approximate 3,3 million taxpayers then remain, who were responsible for paying approximately 99% of all income tax. The contribution to income tax of the next million taxpayers was only 5,9%. When this group of a million people is removed from the total, only 2,3 million taxpayers remain, who were responsible for paying approximately 93% of all income tax. When this group of 2,3 million taxpayers is reduced one last time by excluding those who earned R150 000 to R200 000, only 1,5 million taxpayers, responsible for paying around 84% of all income tax, remain.’
Of course, the above is about income tax only, but keep in mind that those who pay most income tax can be expected to pay the greater share of other tax as well.
Joubert says it is important to bear in mind that the people who pay income tax are also, to a very large extent, responsible for paying the other types of tax such as VAT, company tax, import tariffs and fuel levies. “Company tax is, for example, by no means a tax on companies – it’s a tax on the owners and employees of companies. Company shareholders are individuals and so are the employees. These individuals would have received the higher returns from the company’s activities if it hadn’t been swallowed up by company taxes. To a great extent, shareholders and employees of companies are the very same people who pay income tax. Moreover, those in the higher income tax brackets have most of the highest buying power, thereby contributing the most to VAT and other taxes on products and services.
A breakdown of the 4,8 million people who had to submit a tax return for the 2011/12 tax year.
I’ll post a link to the full breakdown here after it becomes available on-line. The above is from a press release on Sunday.
UPDATE: Here’s the full article by Joubert.
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