The Consumer

Question 1

Explain income tax fully

Answer 1

• Levied on all income and profit a taxpayer receives
  - tax payer = companies; trusts and individuals
• 1 March - 28 Feb
• PAYE = amount of tax deducted from the salary of a full time employee and paid to the Receiver of Revenue by the employer
• Provisional tax = applies to those with an irregular salaries ( farmers; business owners)
• Certain amount must be paid on investments and property income
• Get rebates for expenses such as medical expenses; running business costs from home
• Registered tax payer = SARS send income tax return which may be filled in or done online
  - paid too much = refund you / billed for too little payment

Question 2

Explain property tax

Answer 2

• Paid by all owners of real property ( commercial; industrial; residential and agricultural)
• Taxes on ownership of land and buildings
• Set by municipality based on market value of property
• Paid monthly / annually to local government

Question 3

Explain indirect taxes fully

Answer 3

• Hidden in the price of goods and services
• VAT ( value added tax) = 14% and is paid by everyone
  
  • exempted goods = residential rental; financial services; public and rail transport
    - rice; milk and milk prod; eggs; maize prod; brown bread; fruit and veg
• Excise duty = sin tax
  - alcohol and tobacco
• Import duty = levy on all goods entering the country from overseas
  
  • paid to gov
• Liscences = fee paid for drivers Liscence; TV & fishing& hunting Liscence
• Fuel levy = levy on every litre of petrol / diesel sold ( some = to road accident fund)

Question 4

What is an interest rate

Answer 4

• Rate at which borrowers pay interest for the money they borrow
  - receive interest on savings
• Supply and demand = up and down of int rates
• Credit agreement int rates = up and down with repo rate as charged by Reserve bank
• Simple interest = cal on principle amount of loan. No int during time of loan
  - short term loans
• Compound int = added to original principle amount
  
  • added on int also earns int
• Cal monthly; semi annually; yearly or quarterly
• Fixed int = lender can only charge the same amount of int per month throughout the loan

Question 5

What is inflation

Answer 5

• The rise in prices of goods and services, measure over a specific period and subsequently a drop in the purchasing power of money
• Dear spending power of money
• CPI helps determine incr in prices

Question 6

What is the effect of inflation

Answer 6

• People on fixed income = worst affected
• Hard on the elderly and retired
• Fixed int rate = loses money when inflation is higher than int rate

Question 7

What is fossil fuels

Answer 7

• Fosilised forms of carbon formed in the earth from plant or animal remains that we process to form fuel
• Coal; oil and gas
• Non-renewable

Advantages:

• Coal fired power stations = reliable
• Large amounts of elect generated in 1 place
• SA has abundant coal reserves
• Gas fired power station = efficient
• Fossil fuel power station = built in any location

Disadvantages:

• Pollution ( CO2; toxic chem)
• Gives of sulphur dioxide causing acid rain
• Mining coal = difficult and dangerous
• Uses of natural gas = unpleasant odours

Question 8

Explain regenerative energy fully

Answer 8

• Renewable source of energy
• Wind; sun; water
• Future generations are able to benefit from resources

Question 9

Explain solar and wind power fully

Answer 9

Advantages:

• Clean and no pollution
• No noise pollution
• Financial incentives from gov to reduce cost of installation
• Long warranties on parts

Disadvantages:

• Initial investment = high
• Dependent on no of hours of sunlight and climate
• Only available during the day
• Uses wind turbines on tall wind towers ( 20m)
• Coega Wind Farm in PE

Advantages:

• Best renewable energy source available
• Clean and no pollution
• Land beneath = can be used for farming

Disadvantages :

• Wind = not always predictable
• Land for wind farm = near coast where land is expensive
• Can be noisy
• Generators can kill wild birds and bats pr migrating flocks

Question 10

Explain hydropower and bioenergy fully

Answer 10

• Can be used in sawmills; water mills; irrigation

Advantages:

• No waste or pollution
• More reliable than wind or sunm
• Water = stored above dam to cope with peaks in demand
• Can incr to full power quickly

Disadvantages:

• Neg effect on ecosystems
  Dams = very expensive to build
• Water quality and quantity downstream can be affected
• Finding suitable sites can be difficult
• Biomass =all the plant and animal matter on the Earths surface
  
  • wood; fuel dung used for heating; lighting and cooking in low income households
• Bioenergy = describes the many ways in which biomass is used to create fuel for energy

Advantages:

• Cheap
• Biomass sources = place less demand on earths resources
• Can reduce dependancy on foreign oil

Disadvantages:

• Certain materials aren’t always available
• Collecting sufficient quantities of waste can difficult
• Burning = incr greenhouse gases

Question 11

How can we use electricity responsibly

Answer 11

• Turn off unnecessary lights
• Put on warmer clothes instead of heater
• Use fewer bulbs with higher wattages
• Insulate your ceiling
• Arrange food on shelving for easy air flow
• Let hot foods cool before putting them in fridge
• Boil water in kettle
• Don’t fill kettle each time before boiling
• Hang dry clothes
• Fill dishwasher completely