Tax deduction for married women

Abstract

All married women earning over R150 per month or over R34 per week have PAYE deducted from their wages. PAYE is income tax which is paid by workers on the "pay as you earn" system. Married men, however, pay tax only when their wages are over R500 per month. Single women pay tax only when their wages are over R350 per month. As you can see from the tables which follow, the tax on married women can be quite high. For example, if a married woman earns R220 per month, she will have R9,45 per month deducted from her wages for PAYE. (See Table No. 4). Married women who have children pay the same tax as if they haul no children, too. And there is no reduction in tax if you are over 60 years old, as there is for men. There is nothing can be done about this discrimination against married women until the government changes the tax rules