Sarathi Ray: Summer in South Africa.

While the University of Miami has an excellent reputation for its tax law curriculum, Sarathi Ray never envisioned himself as a tax lawyer. He was a sociology major at the University of Connecticut and it was public interest law that brought him to Miami. The conversion occurred in his first-year Property class with Professor Fajer. "We were studying future interests and I had a knack for it. Professor Fajer said that if I liked future interests, I should look into tax law. I started my second year by taking Federal Income Tax with Professor Blatt and I'm continuing in that direction."

The following semester Sarathi took a few more tax classes, including a LL.M. level class taught by Samuel Thompson. Professor Thompson, who received a USAID grant to serve as a tax advisor to South Africa, has been involved with recent transformations to the South African tax system. "I had just returned to Connecticut for the summer when, out of the blue, Professor Thompson called me and asked if I was interested in working at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for the summer. A week later I was in Pretoria, South Africa."

At SARS, Sarathi studied the tax systems of other countries and wrote reports evaluating proposals for South Africa's tax laws. "South Africa's tax laws are developing, but there are important issues still to be resolved. Compliance is a serious problem. The prominence of the black market makes it difficult to determine who works and how much he or she earns. Because of the government's inability to locate and track the earnings of major segments of the population, many people are able to avoid paying taxes. As a result, the tax burden unjustly falls on those who are paying their taxes. No one likes to pay taxes, but in reality, everyone benefits when everyone pays their fair share."

Since the end of apartheid in 1991, South Africa has been a society in transition. For Sarathi the most striking aspect of his experience in South Africa was seeing the legacy of the apartheid system. "Apartheid is no longer enforced by law, but many of the economic mechanisms of apartheid are still in existence and that is the case with the tax system. During apartheid, it was the white elite who made the laws and the tax laws were written to favor the wealthy. For example, while only the wealthy invest in the stock market, until recently there was no capital gains tax in South Africa." Despite strong resistance, Samuel Thompson and other advocates for reform recently succeeded in achieving the adoption of a capital gains tax. "The shift from a source-based income tax system to a residence-based tax system was a major victory for the reformists."

Sarathi also took advantage of an opportunity to attend workshops on tax administration conducted by Harvard Law School at the Southern African Tax Institute. "The best part of the Institute was being in class with government officials from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and other countries of Southern Africa. I had some great discussions with my classmates that helped me to develop an understanding of contemporary Africa and the problems that its leaders face. It was an educational experience unlike any other that I've ever had and I am eternally grateful to Professor Thompson and Neil Cohen at USAID for making the experience possible."