principles of taxation

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Rationale

Taxation is intrinsic to every business transaction today, since the tax consequences of every transaction need to be acknowledged and addressed. In response to this necessity, the six biggest international audit firms, BDO International, Deloitte, Ernst and Young Global Limited (E&Y), Grant Thornton, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), have all established taxation services as a primary service in their firms (BDO, 2015; Deloitte, 2015; E&Y, 2015; Grant Thornton, 2015; KPMG, 2015; PWC, 2015; Verleyen & De Beelde, 2011).
Given the crucial role that taxation plays in the economy today and the complexity of taxation legislation, Taxation has become a highly specialised field of enquiry.2 The theory of the discipline of Taxation encompasses the most basic principles required to comprehend Taxation. By contrast, taxation policy addresses the practical arena of taxation, which includes the collection and spending of tax revenue. Public economics focuses on taxation policy from the perspective and through the lens of the field of economics. The field includes political economics of taxation, which contemplates the central body (or bodies) in charge of organising a fiscal system, and of facing incentive constraints and social welfare issues.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) acknowledges in its Annual Performance Plan for 2015/2016 that taxation policy goes beyond the questions of what, how and whom to tax (SARS, 2015). The document notes that the delivery of services and benefits to the public pose a strategic risk – SARS (2015:12) identifies an “[u]nfavourable public perception of poor state delivery and corruption” as a strategic risk for 2015 and 2016. SARS explains that this risk includes corruption in the public sector, poor service delivery and the quality of service delivery, as these factors influence taxpayers’ willingness to comply with legislation (SARS, 2015). It is therefore vital to uncover whether principles of service and benefits to the public are internationally regarded as fundamental to both taxation and thus to Taxation as a discipline.
Focusing on Taxation education at a tertiary level, the following questions may arise:  How effective are tertiary institutions in equipping graduates to interpret and apply the ever-changing tax legislation of the future?  How well do academics specialising in Taxation understand their social responsibility when educating tax specialists?  How ethically responsible is it to lecture on the current tax legislation if that legislation might change in the near future? The answers to such questions are multi-faceted. In order to find grounded answers, it is necessary to explore the essence of Taxation as a discipline. In the international research arena, Taxation has gained ground as a focus area. This is evident in established global networks and associations such as the National Tax Association (NTA) in the United States of America (USA), founded in 1907 (Mehrotra & Thorndike, 2011), the Australasia Tax Teachers Association (ATTA), established in 1987 (ATTA, 2015), and the Tax Research Network (TRN) in England, initiated in 1992 (TRN, 2015).

CONTENTS :

  • SECTION A: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
  • CHAPTER ONE RATIONALE FOR AND OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
    • 1.1 RATIONALE
    • 1.2 RESEARCH AIM
    • 1.3 PLAN OF INQUIRY
      • 1.3.1 Research paradigm
      • 1.3.2 Research design
      • 1.3.3 Data collection strategies
      • 1.3.4 The research setting and the roles of those involved
      • 1.3.5 Qualitative rigour
      • 1.3.6 Ethical considerations
    • 1.4 LIMITATIONS
    • 1.5 KEY TERMS
    • 1.6 OUTLINE OF SECTIONS
  • CHAPTER TWO PHILOSOPHY AS A GUIDING SCIENCE
    • 2.1 ORIENTATION
    • 2.2 WHY USE PHILOSOPHY?
    • 2.3 DEFINING A “FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE”
    • 2.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE
      • 2.4.1 Preamble to an analysis of the working definition
      • 2.4.2 A fundamental principle is a general truth
      • 2.4.3 A fundamental principle forms the most important part of the foundation of a unique field of study
    • 2.4.4 A fundamental principle is constructed through a chain of reasoning
    • 2.4.5 Theories and applied practices can be derived from a fundamental principle and are verified according to the current knowledge available
    • 2.5 GUIDELINES TO CONSTRUCT FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM PHILOSOPHY SECTION B: METHOD 1 – HISTORICAL POSITIONING
  • CHAPTER THREE HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF TAXATION
    • 3.1 ORIENTATION
    • 3.2 DATA COLLECTION STRATEGY
    • 3.3 DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGY
    • 3.4 STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH METHOD
    • 3.5 WHERE DID TAXATION ORIGINATE AND HOW DID IT EVOLVE?
      • 3.5.1 Orientation
      • 3.5.2 Ancient Kingdoms (4000BC – 499AD)
      • 3.5.3 Dark Ages and Middle Ages (500–1499AD)
      • 3.5.4 Modern Age
      • 3.5.5 Brief overview of the history of principles constructed to guide taxation
    • 3.6 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION THAT EVOLVED THROUGH HISTORY
    • 3.6.1 Orientation
    • 3.6.2 Fundamental Principles that emerged in the Ancient Kingdoms
    • 3.6.3 Fundamental Principles that emerged in the Dark and Middle Ages
    • 3.6.4 Fundamental Principles that emerged in the Modern Age
    • 3.7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
    • 3.8 DO THE PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM TAXATION HISTORY CONSTITUTE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION?
    • 3.9 CONTINUING THE SEARCH
      SECTION C: METHOD 2 – INTERACTIVE QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
  • CHAPTER FOUR
    • METHODOLOGICAL EXPLICATION
    • 4.1 RATIONALE
    • 4.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
    • 4.2.1 Focus group: in general
    • 4.2.2 Participant selection process
    • 4.2.3 IQA data collection and analysis
    • 4.3 STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH METHOD
  • CHAPTER FIVE THE DATA COLLECTION THROUGH THE INTERACTIVE QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
    • 5.1 CREATING AFFINITIES
    • 5.2 AFFINITY DESCRIPTIONS (FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION)
    • 5.3 CREATING THE INTERRELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM
    • 5.4 DRAWING OF THE SYSTEMS INFLUENCE DIAGRAM
  • CHAPTER SIX INTERACTIVE QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
    • 6.1 DISCUSSION OF THE SYSTEMS INFLUENCE DIAGRAM
    • 6.1.1 Orientation
    • 6.1.2 Feedback loops
    • 6.2 CONCLUDING REMARKS
    • SECTION D: METHOD 3 – SINGLE QUESTION IN WRITING
    • TO TAXATION EXPERTS
  • CHAPTER SEVEN METHODOLOGICAL EXPLICATION
    • 7.1 RATIONALE
    • 7.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
    • 7.3 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
  • CHAPTER EIGHT DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
    • 8.1 A SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
    • 8.2 DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
    • 8.2.1 Preamble
      • 8.2.2 Neutral Understandable Legislation (Ranking: 1)
      • 8.2.3 Administrative Efficiency (Ranking: 2)
      • 8.2.4 Concept of Equity (Ranking: 3)
      • 8.2.5 Contributing Public Demands Justification (Ranking: 4)
      • 8.2.6 Benefits to Public through Taxation (Ranking: 5)
      • 8.2.7 Concept of Equality (Ranking: 6)
      • 8.2.8 Change Unwanted Social Behaviour (Ranking: 7)
      • 8.2.9 Redistribution of Income or Wealth (Ranking: 8)
    • 8.3 INDICATORS IDENTIFIED THROUGH THE ANALYSIS
    • 8.3.1 Preamble
    • 8.3.2 First World vs Second and Third World
    • (indication of the international voice)
    • 8.3.3 Participants’ initial field of study
    • (multidisciplinary nature of participants)
    • 8.3.4 Length of the participants’ responses
    • 8.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
    • SECTION E: FINAL INTEGRATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
  • CHAPTER NINE SYNTHESIS OF THE FINDINGS
    • 9.1 RATIONALE FOR SYNTHESISING THE FINDINGS THROUGH TRIANGULATION
    • 9.2 THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF TRIANGULATION
    • 9.3 STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS
    • 9.4 THE TRIANGULATION OF THE THREE SETS OF PROPOSED FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION
    • 9.4.1 Orientation
    • 9.4.2 The Fundamental Principles of Taxation as triangulated
    • 9.5 CRITICALLY EVALUATING TRIANGULATION AS A RESEARCH METHOD
  • CHAPTER TEN CONCLUSION
    • 10.1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH
    • 10.2 CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH
    • 10.2.1 Methodological considerations
    • 10.2.2 Contribution to the theoretical field of Taxation
    • 10.3 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
    • 10.4 FUTURE RESEARCH
    • 10.5 A FINAL REMARK
    • REFERENCES
    • APPENDICES
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