It appeared almost unnoticed in a flurry of ‘Latest News’ notifications on the National Treasury’s website on November 13. Can you guess what it is? Well, in the order of publication, the items listed were: Media Advisory: CABRI ODI Global International Conference; Media Statement: Publication of Discussion Documents for Public Comment; Tax Discussion Documents for Public Comments; and Media Statement: New Bonds Issued in International Capital Markets.

Just in case the acronyms CABRI and ODI mean as little to you as they did to me, they stand for the ‘Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative’ and ‘Overseas Development Institute’ respectively.

Do you have an answer? If it is Tax Discussion Documents for Public Comments, then you are correct. Four documents are related to it: Media Statement: Publication of Discussion Documents for Public Comment; Phase Two of the Carbon Tax; The Tax Treatment of Collective Investment Schemes; and The Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages.

From an excises perspective, the two documents of interest are: Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages and Phase Two of the Carbon Tax. Yes, ‘excises’, not ‘excise’. You may already be familiar with what an ‘excise’ is. Before it was the South African Revenue Service, it was partly the Department of Customs and Excise. Depending on your view of ‘excise’, you might recall Samuel Johnson’s definition from his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language: “a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.”

For his part, the Father of Economics, Adam Smith, referenced excise taxes in his 1766 book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. He wrote: “It has for some time past been the policy of Great Britain to discourage the consumption of spirituous liquors, on account of their supposed tendency to ruin the health and to corrupt the morals of the common people” and “Sugar, rum and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which [have] become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.”

Fast-forward to 2022, when Sijbren Cnossen stated: “Broadly speaking, the distinguishing features of excise taxation are selectivity in coverage, discrimination in intent, and some form of quantitative measurement in determining the tax liability.”

Are you still perplexed by the mention of ‘excises’ after the three elucidations of ‘excise’? And no, it is not that the collective constitutes its plural. As the mediator in The Carpenter states: “Nothing is ever as it seems nor is it otherwise.” Cnossen’s reference is to ‘excises’.

Which neatly brings us to the purpose of the public consultation. The National Treasury has published a policy review on the taxation of alcoholic beverages, building on the previous excise tax policy review in 2014 and proposing adjustments to the current policy framework. “The discussion document covers developments in the alcoholic beverages industry, including changes in the regulatory landscape, the prevalence of alcohol consumption, illicit trade in alcoholic beverages, international observations on alcohol taxation, the potential use of minimum unit pricing in the long term, and other administrative policy considerations in line with the concerns that have been raised by stakeholders.”

It also notes that, in the 2024 National Budget, government announced its intention to publish a carbon tax discussion paper for public comment. “This paper puts forward proposals on Phase Two of the carbon tax design from 2026 to 2035 for consultation, considering South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contributions commitments. The discussion document includes proposed adjustments to the basic tax-free allowance, carbon offsets, the electricity levy, the renewable-energy premium and the energy efficiency savings tax incentive.”

The National Treasury informed us that after the public consultation process concluded on December 3, the draft proposals will be revised to consider public comments, and announcements will be made in the 2025 National Budget.

It reminds me of the Coco Chanel quote: “The best things in life are free”, only for Anonymous to expand on it by adding that “but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them”.