The rationale of the regional services council levies as decentralised local tax : the case of Nkangala district.

M. Tech. Comparative Local Development. Department of Economics.In his budget speech of 2005, the then South African Minister of Finance, Mr Trevor Manuel, announced that the Regional Services Council levies would be eliminated in 2006. He stated that the Regional Services Council levies were being disbanded because they were inefficient, inequitable and a poorly administered local tax instrument. This move by the Minister resulted in widespread discomfort and generated vigorous objections by organised local government and other stakeholders. They claimed that, rather than abolishing their source of revenue, the Minister should rather have enhanced the tax by legislation, since the reasons he provided for labelling the Regional Services Council levies as inefficient, inequitable and poorly administered were incorrect. The rationale for this study is to determine whether the Regional Services Council levies do in fact meet the criteria for being a decentralised local tax. Nkangala District Municipality's situation was used as a case study