The viability of the introduction of Spahn tax in South Africa

Abstract

With respect to foreign currency exchange markets, most governments would favour a stable exchange rate over a volatile exchange rate. This is also true for South Africa where volatile movements in the South African Rand pose challenges to industries, businesses and Government alike. There are a multitude of factors that affect the volatility of the South African Rand. These factors are difficult to identify, manage individually and measure. There are several tools that are available to manipulate and control foreign exchange rates in an attempt to reduce volatility; one such tool is the currency transaction tax. Spahn tax is one such form of currency transaction tax. The precursor to Spahn tax is Tobin tax. As a result of many criticisms levelled against Tobin tax, Spahn expanded on this original idea and made a few modifications to address some of the concerns. Spahn focused on creating a two-tier tax base where transactions falling within a normal and reasonable trading range would be taxed at a nominal amount and transactions that fall outside of the band would be taxed at a higher punitive rate. The trading band, or range, would be adjustable though market dynamics on a daily basis using a moving average. No country has implemented Spahn tax yet. The implementation of such a tax would have strong revenue-generating potential. A modification of such a tax with only a punitive rate and a wide trading band could be considered for South Africa. However, in being prudent South Africa does not appear to be in a position to be the first country to implement Spahn tax. There are too many market risks associated with the introduction Spahn tax that cannot be ignored.