--- title: South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to... description: South Africa will eliminate the 9% luxury excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500 beginning April 1, 2023, to improve digital accessibility for... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to Boost Digital Access | daily.dev og:description: South Africa will eliminate the 9% luxury excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500 beginning April 1, 2023, to improve digital accessibility for... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/JoySWmACC.png og:image:alt: South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to Boost Digital Access og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to Boost Digital Access **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 1 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary South Africa will eliminate the 9% luxury excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500 beginning April 1, 2023, to improve digital accessibility for low-income households. This change is part of a larger plan to phase out 2G and 3G networks by 2027. While telecom operators welcome the tax cut, its impact on affordability might be limited, with suggestions that removing VAT or additional incentives could be more effective. ## Content South Africa will remove the luxury excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500 from April 1, 2023. This tax, currently set at 9%, will now only apply to more expensive smartphones. The initiative aims to support digital inclusion for low-income households as the country plans to phase out 2G and 3G networks by the end of 2027. The finance minister's announcement has been welcomed by South Africa's major telecommunications operators and is supported by the communications minister. They believe this move will enhance smartphone affordability for low-income households and facilitate the transition to 4G and 5G devices. However, while the telecommunications industry praises the tax cut as a step towards digital inclusion, its impact on affordability may be modest. Deloitte's analysis suggests that removing VAT or providing additional incentives would have a more significant effect on reducing prices and aiding low-income households. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to Boost Digital Access","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc"},"datePublished":"2025-03-13T09:16:40.627Z","dateModified":"2025-03-14T09:55:17.843Z","description":"South Africa will eliminate the 9% luxury excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500 beginning April 1, 2023, to improve digital accessibility for...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0b7e1bf3a043f06ce35866d851c6f047?_a=AQAEuj9","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0b7e1bf3a043f06ce35866d851c6f047?_a=AQAEuj9","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-removes-luxury-tax-on-budget-smartphones-to-boost-digital-access-joyswmacc","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"tech-news","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"South Africa Removes Luxury Tax on Budget Smartphones to Boost Digital Access"}]} ```