Elasticity and electricity – SA’s export Achilles heels
On June 3, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that it had identified the need for South African export promotion and development legislation and that it was preparing a White Paper...
View ArticleThe origins of the word ‘tariff’
One of my passions in life is to study and uncover the origin of words, especially those that pertain to international trade – international trade terminology, if you will. In earlier columns I...
View ArticlePossible antidumping terminations
The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) informed on June 19 that, in accordance with the provisions of its antidumping regulations (ADR), any definitive antidumping...
View ArticleNational Export Advisory Council inaugurated
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced on June 21 that Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies had inaugurated the National Export Advisory Council (NEAC) at the Team Export South...
View ArticleIt’s time for the fat taxes
To avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, the focus of this column is not on taxes on those among us who could be considered overweight, but on taxing that which is externality induced, including...
View ArticleTinted glass mirrors still subject to dumping duty
On July 10, the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) published its final determination to not exclude tinted glass mirrors, classifiable under tariff subheading 7009.91, from existing...
View ArticleHas Sacu passed its sell-by date?
It should not be a question of whether the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) has reached its sell-by date, but rather of the extent to which it has passed this date. Sacu is the oldest operational...
View ArticleWe will, we will, tax you
We will, we will, tax you Have you ever thought of an appropriate song to reflect South Africa’s current approach to taxation? If you are young at heart, you might recall a song by arguably the world’s...
View ArticleIs incentivising tax noncompliance taking its toll?
Why provide a tax amnesty for noncompliance, but no similar or equitable dispensation for compliance? In addition to the tax amnesty, why then also grant a discount and preferential payment terms for...
View ArticleMachiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy to blame?
Do you recall Billy Joel’s song, We Didn't Start the Fire, which topped the US Billboard Top 100 in December 1989? The song’s lyrics consist of brief, rapid-fire allusions to more than 100...
View ArticleSouth Africa – a fallacy of assumption, and that’s no myth
A fallacy is the use of poor or invalid reasoning in the construction of a deceptive, misleading, false notion, or belief that is applied in the formulation of an unsound argument. While some fallacies...
View ArticleSouth Africa (Pty) Ltd’s share price
If I had to single out my biggest bugbear, it would be those who unnecessarily complicate economics. This reminds me of a golfer observing another golfer preparing to tee off, who happened to be using...
View ArticleSouth Africa’s GDP numbers not a true reflection of its people’s wellbeing
In his book, Alex through the looking glass: how life reflects numbers, and numbers reflect life, Allex Bellos Alex observes just how much we have come to depend on numbers to make sense of the world...
View ArticleLong-term benefits or deferred externalities?
I am writing this column having just returned from a concert at which one of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Madness, was a headline act. It is with some irony that I...
View ArticleWater in the tariff and smoke in the water
‘Smoke and mirrors’ is considered a metaphor for deception, diversion or insubstantial explanation. The expression’s origin is attributable to magicians' illusions, where they make objects appear or...
View ArticleSeychelles accedes to SADC Protocol
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) informed on September 18 of the accession of the Seychelles to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Trade. This necessitated the...
View ArticleThe Alhambra and the New World
It took all of 85 minutes and 31 seconds for Japan to inflict South Africa’s first loss in its opening game of the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup (RWC) – 34-32. Prior to the game, South Africa had played...
View ArticleCeuta and Melilla – the European Union in Africa
What a difference a week makesI When I was preparing last week’s column, I wanted to head for the hills, but then I already was in the mountains – in Spain, as you would recall from last week’s...
View ArticleFinancial economists: mesmerised cheerleaders or compulsive liars?
It is the practice for the author of an article that appears in the financial press to make a declaration of interest. I thought that, as this week’s column is of a financial nature, I should make a...
View ArticleWhere the numbers hold no value
The media recently reported on President Jacob Zuma's ‘fumble’ in expressing the membership numbers of the political party that he heads, which had dropped from "a little more than 1.2-million in 2012...
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