Afrika's obligation to fight for a gendered and youthful perspective in global digitalised tax restructuring

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Published date: 16 February 2021
• Pages: 278-294
• Citation: (2021) 1 AMTJ 278
• Date: 16 February 2021
• Author: Litchfield-Tshabalala, K.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/AMTJ/2021/i1a16

278

AFRIKA’S* OBLIGATION TO FIGHT FOR A GENDERED AND

YOUTHFUL PERSPECTIVE IN GLOBAL DIGITALISED TAX

RESTRUCTURING

L’OBLIGATION DE L’AFRIKA DE LUTTER POUR UNE

PERSPECTIVE DE GENRE ET DE JEUNESSE DANS LA

RESTRUCTURATION FISCALE NUMÉRIQUE MONDIALE

OBRIGAÇÃO DA AFRIKA DE LUTAR POR UMA

PERSPECTIVA DE GÊNERO E JUVENTUDE NA

REESTRUTURAÇÃO DE IMPOSTOS GLOBAL DIGITALIZADA

Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala†

JEL Classification: H2 Taxation, Su bsidies, and Reve nue

https://doi.org/10.47348/AMTJ/2021/i1a16

ABSTRACT

This paper considered the hi storical perspective of w omen and taxation, as well the ir

economic status in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD) countrie s, Afrika, and So uth Africa a s a special focus. The case was

made that women a re globally worse of f economic ally than their male counterpa rts;

but that Afrik an women speci fically com e off the worst. Women a lso suffer f iscal

discrimina tion, yet they bear unique tax burdens like Pink Tax, Afrika n (Black)

Tax for women in Afrika, i ndividualised Pay a s You Earn which ultima tely

discrimina tes against women-headed hous eholds, and women b readwinner s. Even

at the periph ery of the economy, they shoulder value-added tax (VAT) the same as

men. Given the forecasted Afr ikan populatio n growth, Afrik an women rema in an

untapped resou rce for the digital economy. Yet gender re presentation and equity in th e

current ef forts for global tax governa nce restructuring are la cking. Hence the re exists

a need for the African Tax Administration For um (ATAF) to cha mpion a gendered

and youthful per spective in digital tax tran sformation, and pionee r tax disaggregation

by categori sing women according to socio- economic profiles.

Keywords: digitalised, disaggregation, gendered, tax restructuring, youthful

RÉSUMÉ

Le présent do cument examin e plus particul ièrement la pe rspective hist orique

des femmes et de l a fiscalité, ai nsi que leur statu t économique da ns les pays de

l’Organisation de c oopération et de dé veloppement économiques (OC DE), en

Afrique et en Af rique du Sud en pa rticulier. L’argument est que les femm es sont

globalement moins bien loties éc onomiquemen t que leurs homolo gues hommes, ma is

que les femmes a fricaine s sont les plus mal loties. Les femm es souffrent également

* Throughout this article, the name ‘Afrika’ is spelt with ‘k’ (instead of ‘c’) which is an

Afrikanised spelling of ‘Africa’ to reflect the spelling and the way in which ‘Afrika’ is written in all

Afrikan languages

† iMTraDev Solutions: khanyisilelt@gmail.com

(2021) 1 AMTJ 278

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AFRIKA’S OBLIGATION TO FIGHT FOR A GENDERED AND YOUTHFUL

PERSPECTIVE IN GLOBAL DIGITALISED TAX RESTRUCTURING 279

de discrimin ation en matière d e fiscalité, mais elles suppor tent des charges fisca les

uniques comme l ’impôt rose, l’impôt africain (no ir) pour les femmes e n Afrique, la

rémunération in dividualisée qu e vous gagnez qui, en f in de compte, disc rimine les

ménages dir igés par les femmes qui consti tuent les soutiens des famille s. Bien qu’elles

soient à la périphérie de l’économie, elles supportent la taxe sur la vale ur ajoutée

(TVA) au même titre que les h ommes. Compte te nu des prévi sions de croissan ce de

la population africaine, le s femmes afr icaines dem eurent une resso urce inexploit ée

pour l’économie numé rique. Pourtant, il y a un manque d e représentation et d’équité

entre les sexes da ns les effo rts actuel s de restructu ration de la gouver nance fi scale

mondiale. D’où la nécess ité pour le Forum su r l’administration fiscale africa ine

(ATAF) de se faire le défenseur d’une perspective liée au genre et à la je unesse dans

la transforma tion de la fisc alité numéri que, et d’être le pionnier de l a désagrégation

fiscale en c lassant les fem mes selon leur pro fil socio- économique.

Mots-clé s: numérisé, désagrégation, genre, restr ucturation de la fiscalité, jeunesse

ABSTRATO

Este document o considera a per spectiva histór ica das mulhe res e da tributa ção, bem

como o seu estatut o económico nos pa íses da Organiza ção para a Coope ração e

Desenvolvim ento Económi co (OCDE), África, e Áf rica do Sul, co mo um enfoque

especial. Foi d efendido que as mulheres est ão globalmente em pior situaç ão económica

do que os seus homólog os masculinos; mas que a s mulheres afri canas saem prej udicadas.

As mulheres t ambém sofrem di scriminaç ão tributár ia, mas supor tam encargos f iscais

únicos como o Imposto Rosa, o Imposto Afr icano (Neg ro) para as mulheres em

África, retenção na fonte in dividualizada que a caba por discr iminar os agregad os

familiares che fiados por mulheres, e as mulh eres que sustentam a família. E mbora na

perifer ia da economia, el as arcam com o imposto sobre o valor acrescentado (I VA) da

mesma forma que os h omens. Dado o cre scimento pre visto da popula ção afric ana, as

mulheres afr icanas co ntinuam a ser um rec urso inexplorad o para a economia digit al.

No entanto, exist e uma falta de repre sentação e equid ade de género nos actuais

esforços de reestruturação da governação tr ibutária gl obal. Daí a necessidade de o

Fórum Afri cano das Admini strações Tributár ias (ATAF) defender uma perspectiva

de género e juventude na transform ação fisc al digital, e uma desa gregação trib utária

pioneira, classificando a s mulheres de acordo com os perfis socioec onómicos.

Palavras-chave: digitalizada, desagregação, com base no género, reestruturação

tributária, juvenil

I INTRODUCTION

Traditional tax laws are i nadequate to deal with a g lobalised, digitalised

economy, primarily characterised by the allocation of taxing rights to

a country of a resident enterprise, or where a non-resident enterprise

creates a suf ficient physical presence. Thus, citizen awareness of

digita lised taxation remains a new frontier.

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