PhD Study to Interest Tax Practitioners

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International Tax Expert and Author, Dr Daniel Erasmus, earned his PhD with a dissertation which examined the impact of the Constitution on tax legislation.

The thesis was titled: “An Analysis of Challenging the Commissioner’s Discretionary Powers Invoked in Terms of sections 74A and 74B of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 in Light of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa”.

This study, supervised by Professor Robert Williams from UKZN’s School of Law, analyses the new constitutional avenues available to taxpayers to challenge the exercise by the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service of the draconian discretionary powers vested in him by South Africa’s Income Tax Act.

Commenting on the study, Williams said: ‘This thesis makes a valuable contribution to the emerging scholarly literature on the impact of the Constitution on tax legislation and on the exercise of discretionary powers by organs of state. His study will be of great interest to tax practitioners countrywide and to the judges in the Tax Court and the superior courts.’

Erasmus, who lectures as an Adjunct Professor of International Tax Law based at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in the United States, frequently visits Africa to advise on tax-related disputes for multi-national clients.

Erasmus is grateful to his family for fully supporting his studies and work commitments. As a seasoned author he plans to convert the thesis into a textbook.

- Hazel Langa