INSURANCE
Prosper Funeral Solutions in final liquidation
In January, Moonstone reported that the High Court in Johannesburg had placed Prosper Funeral Solutions (Pty) Ltd under provisional liquidation after finding that African Unity Life has a valid claim for R10 million in unpaid premiums. The provisional order was made final on 28 February, and a liquidator has been appointed.
TAX
SA’s small tax base
Of the 60 million people in South Africa, only 7.4 million pay personal income tax (PIT), and 1.1% of taxpayers – about 164 000 people – pay 30% of the total PIT, according to Dawie Roodt, director and chief economist of Efficient Group. PIT is the South African Revenue Service’s largest source of revenue at R640.3 billion (2023/24 tax year).
Corporate income tax (CIT) has an even smaller tax base. Only 0.09% of companies – 770 large corporates – pay 62.5% of the R336.1bn in CIT, which is Sars’s third-largest source of revenue. VAT is the second-biggest source, at R471.5bn.
EXCHANGE RATE
‘Mandela was the worst president for the rand’
The rand performed best when Thabo Mbeki was president (1999 to 2008) and worst during Nelson Mandela’s presidency (1994 to 1999), according to Daily Investor, which analysed the rand’s performance against the US dollar under four presidents. Kgalema Motlanthe was excluded because of his short time in office.
The rand weakened by 41%, from R3.62 to R6.08 to the dollar, while Mandela was president. This was the worst depreciation of all four presidents, even though Mandela served for only one term.
The rand weakened from under R4 to the dollar in 1994 to more than R18 in 2023.
