Abstract
With its inception and promulgation into law, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1 (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution) has enshrined into law, rights to which citizens of the Republic are entitled to. These rights are listed in Chapter 2 of the Constitution (hereinafter referred to as the Bill of Rights) which contains a list of twenty-seven rights. These rights include amongst others, the right to equality, 2 human dignity,3 life, 4 freedom and security of person, 5 privacy,6 and for purposes of this dissertation, the right to religion, belief and opinion. 7 The Bill of Rights applies to ‘all law’8 dictating that the application of the rights contained therein would naturally extend to tax law and all practices that are associated with tax law. In this respect section 8(1) of the Constitution explicitly states that: “The Bill of Rights applies to all law, and binds the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and all organs of state.” The Bill of Rights places an obligation upon all role players operating within the tax arena (i.e. tax policy makers) to effect tax practices that “respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.”9 Crucial to the effective operation of the Bill of Rights is the inherent fact that the Bill of Rights was never intended to, nor does it operate in isolation from a variety of scenarios, practices or points of law that may be posed or developed over time, whether these be related to tax law or otherwise...
LL.M. (Tax Law)