Tag: Free Market Foundation
Tobacco Bill – are committee powers unconstitutional?
In May 2018, the Minister of Health published a draft Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill[1] in the Government Gazette[2] and invited interested persons to submit comments and representations on the draft Bill.[3]
SARS’s digital border bureaucracy – progress or pointless compliance?
The South African administrative state has acquired yet another hammer - digital traveller technology. Government departments appear now to assume that because something can be digitised, it should be digitised. Worse still, because information can be collected, it ought to be collected. SARS's compulsory new online “Traveller Declaration” system exemplifies this increasingly pervasive mindset.
Expropriation Act – why is the FMF challenging it?
Through its Rule of Law Project, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) participated as an amicus curiae (friend of the court). The constitutional challenge to the Expropriation Act ran from 3 to 7 August in the Western Cape High Court. AfriForum, IRR Legal and the Vaderland Stigting principally brought the substantive challenge. Meanwhile, the DA made a primarily procedural case. The FMF appeared alongside other civil society organisations participating in the proceedings.
Tobacco Bill – can an uncosted law be justified?
On 9 May 2018, the Minister of Health published in the Government Gazette a draft 2018 Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill and invited interested persons to submit comments on the Bill.
FICA regulatory overreach – court constrains bureaucratic power
The Financial Intelligence Centre’s attempt to impose retrospective penalties for a period extending fully five years prior to the existence of any lawful authority is not merely misguided, it is a brazen affront to the rule of law.
South Africa could be another UAE
In 2024 nominal average per person income in the UAE was US$ 49,400, roughly eight times that of South Africa’s US$ 6,250. On global rankings for GDP per capita, the UAE is among the top 25 countries, while South Africa ranks around the 110th, indicating the degree to which the UAE is ahead in relative living standards.
Private enterprise as the source of prosperity, not the government
Across the globe, governments emphasise the need to grow the economy. They display statistics as evidence of progress. They build roads, bridges and schools, and they call it development. They also enact regulations, collect taxes and redistribute resources. All of this occurs in the name of economic advancement. But what truly creates wealth?
Governments cannot accumulate capital
Austrian economists argue that capital is more than just money, it is a living process in which private individuals set aside present consumption, conserve resources, and pour those resources into ventures they believe will yield increase later. That choice demands patience, sound judgment and - above all - ownership.
Revenue-driven gambling tax a blatant assault on freedom
National Treasury's draft proposal for a 20% national tax on the gross gambling revenue of all forms of online gambling, including online sports betting, which is legal, must be called what it is: a revenue grab. This proposal violates constitutionalism, undermines democratic practice and punishes enterprise. All of this is dressed up as a measure to reduce social harm. It is, in effect, a revenue-driven gambling tax.
Business Licensing Bill – submit your comments by 28 November
The current Businesses Act 1991 requires a business licence to carry on essentially only two categories of business. The Act repealed prior licensing laws that had required many more types of business to be licensed. At the time, the Free Market Foundation through its Law Review Project helped persuade the government to repeal those prior licensing laws and introduce the light-touch 1991 Act.
