There is nothing inherently socially beneficial about taxes. Taxes are the legal codification of a long-standing social norm: that citizens should contribute to the common well-being of the society that they live in. This is according to Dr Sansia Blackmore, a Senior Lecturer at the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. She says  taxes in South Africa are generally not user charges; taxpayers receive fewer goods and services than would be commensurate with the taxes they pay. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Dr Sansia Blackmore