How much money you need to earn to be in South Africa’s top 1%

To form part of the “richest 1% of South Africa”, individuals need to earn a gross monthly salary before tax of R62,500. This translates into R750,000 per year.

This so-called ‘Top 1%’ is the subject of many discussions around wealth taxes in South Africa to cover the budget shortfall.

South Africa’s existing wealth taxes include estate duty, donations tax, securities transfer tax, transfer duties, luxury car tax, and capital gains tax.

There are now discussions around introducing a tax based on the total value of a person’s assets, including things like property, cars, and investments.

Unlike other taxes triggered by specific events, a wealth tax is usually charged annually based on the value of these assets.

Such a wealth tax carries significant risks, including wealthy individuals moving their assets or even relocating to countries without such taxes.

If the tax is applied to specific assets, people might shift their investments to avoid the tax, which could distort financial decisions.

For our entrepreneurs, cash flow is king, and wealth taxes could be problematic for them as they are a tax on asset value, not income.

Many entrepreneurs are cash hungry, needing to access facilities to meet their monthly costs while they wait for revenue to come in.

A wealth tax would thus further burden their cash flows, impacting their growth and the economy as a whole.

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt said it would be foolish for the government to try to tax individuals or companies more in South Africa.

He highlighted that South Africa’s company tax is already higher than the norm and that increasing it would discourage investment.

South Africa is also on the wrong side of the Laffer Curve regarding personal income tax, which means a tax increase will lead to lower tax collections.

“Many rich and successful people are leaving South Africa. We are losing our taxpayers,” Roodt said at the State of the Nation Business Breakfast.

He added that a small number of South Africans pay most of the country’s personal income taxes, which makes them very valuable.

South Africa’s Top 1%

With so much talk about South Africa’s Top 1%, it raises the question of what this group looks like regarding salaries or wealth.

The National Treasury’s latest tax statistics showed that around 630,000 individuals pay over half of South Africa’s personal income tax.

South Africa currently has a population of around 63 million, meaning that the top 1% comprises around 630,000 individuals.

The top 1% of the population is estimated to pay R378 billion of the total personal income tax revenue of R738.7 billion for 2024/25.

This means that 1% of the country pays 51% of South Africa’s total personal income tax revenue.

To form part of the “richest 1% of South Africa”, individuals need to earn a gross salary before tax of R62,500 per month.

Simply put, most qualified and experienced professionals in South Africa in the mid-to-late career stage will fall into this group.

This shows just how narrow South Africa’s tax base is. Anyone earning a good salary is in the Top 1% of income earners.

Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2025 showed that South Africa only had 5,212 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs).

Knight Frank defined high-net-worth individuals as those with net assets exceeding $10 million (R183 million).

Trying to impose a wealth tax on these individuals will cause many to externalise their wealth and even leave the country.

Driving this group out of the country will cause tremendous damage to the South African economy as they are behind most of the growth.

A recent OECD report on wealth taxes stated that these taxes act as an incentive to hide assets, leading to a decline in tax morality.

The report highlighted that wealth taxes disincentivize entrepreneurship, harming innovation and long-term growth.