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12 S. Afr. Mercantile L.J. 209 (2000)
Some Policy Issues Regarding the Local Government: Property Rates Bill

handle is hein.journals/safrmerlj12 and id is 217 raw text is: Some Policy Issues Regarding the Local Government: Property Rates Bill RCD FRANZSEN University of South Africa WJ McCLUSKEY University of Ulster 1 Introduction Government's vision of a future local government dispensation was clearly mapped out in the White Paper on Local Government (1998), read with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996. Giving effect to this vision required the passing of a number of new statutes. During the course of 1998 the first two Acts were signed into law, namely the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act 27 of 1998 (primarily providing for the establishment of the Municipal Demarcation Board), and the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (primarily providing, in accordance with the Con- stitution, for the various categories and types of municipalities). The Local Government: Municipal Systems Bill, 1999 (published for comment as GN 1776 of 1999 in Government Gazette 20357 of 6 August 1999 and establishing an enabling framework for the core processes of planning, performance management, resource mobilization and organi- zational change that underpin the notion of developmental local government) has already been published and will probably be enacted early in 2000. Two Bills, both dealing primarily with municipal finances, namely the Local Government: Property Rates Bill (being prepared by the Department of Provincial and Local Government) and the Municipal Finance Management Bill (being prepared by the Department of Finance), are still in the drafting stage and have yet to be approved by the cabinet and published for comment. This paper discusses some of the important property-tax policy issues in the context of the Local Government: Property Rates Bill and the constitutional environment in which it will be passed into law. 2 The Need for National Framework Legislation Regarding Property Tax ('Rates on Property') Section 229(2)(b) of the Constitution provides that the power of a municipality to impose rates on property (which implies an original power to impose property tax) 'may be regulated by national legis- lation'. The question can be asked: Is there a need for national legislation regulating municipal property taxation?

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