Tax Laws and Rates Amendments and many other laws open for comment

  • August 13th, 2020

The following received from Dear South Africa…

There appears to be no slow-down in our government’s determination to amend legislation and policy as we see another flood of bills published for public comment. The encouraging bit is the government is compelled, by law, to invite public comment to help shape legislation BEFORE implementation. We urge you to have your say by clicking below on those which affect you.

Please note that you have a last chance to have a say on several comment periods drawing to a close this week – the details are below.

Thank you for being an active and responsible citizen.
Rob Hutchinson
MD, Dear South Africa

Linda, are you on our Social Media pages? Join the conversation by clicking here; Facebook or Twitter
Tax Laws and Rates Amendments

The National Treasury and SARS published the 2020 draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and the 2020 draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill for comment. The 2020 draft Rates Bill was also re-published for a second time for input. Along with increases in sin taxes, hugely controversial is a proposed removal of the requirement on SARS to prove intent from certain criminal offences with regard to disclosures made in respect of income tax, VAT and Tax Administration ACT declarations. This means should you make a mistake in your tax declarations, SARS can deem this as criminal intent. click here to have your say
Rural Safety South Africa is plagued by unprecedented levels of violence and crime that costs the economy millions of rand. Violent crime is rampant in rural areas, affecting all South Africans, regardless of race, gender, location or occupation.
Please voice your thoughts, suggestions or solutions – which will be presented to the government and our courts in a coordinated campaign by several civil society organisations from all regions.

click here to have your say
LAST CHANCE – Film and Publications Amendment Regulations (censorship)
As a continuation of the controversial Internet Censorship Bill, Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has published draft regulations for public comment.

These regulations cover rules around content, distribution and production of video and graphic material on all platforms, including broadcast, digital and social media. Further, any person who intends to publish, distribute or exhibit a publication shall submit the publication to the FPB together with the relevant form and the prescribed fee, for examination and classification before it may be distributed or exhibited within the Republic (closes 17 August).

click here to participate
LAST CHANCE – Nuclear Regulator Act – Regulations Minister Gwede Mantashe has called for public comment on the draft Regulations on the long term operation of nuclear installations.

These regulations will enable Eskom (or other licensees) to apply for a licence to extend the plant life span of Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant. They also spell out safety and HR arrangements that must be met for the licence to be granted (closes 18 August).

click here to participate
NEWS: Cigarette and alcohol taxes go up even though you can’t legally buy them One of the ironies of the times in which we live is that taxes on cigarettes and alcohol are to go up – even though there isn’t a hope in hell of government collecting any of this while there is a ban on cigarette and alcohol sales. Read More

NEWS: Minister of Social Development reminds South Africans to comment on the Victim Support Services Bill As we enter into Women’s month, the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, is calling upon on all South Africans and organisations, in particular those in the fight against gender-based violence, to comment on the Victim Support Services Bill (VSS). Read More
If the campaign links do not work, please copy this link into your browser; https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/pdps/

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Dear South Africa is a non-partisan South African non-profit organisation which facilitates public participation in all government administrative processes, applications, policy formation, amendments and tariff structuring.