Evidence-based policy and decision-making are vital to support sustainable development. Although the facts do not often speak for themselves, getting the facts and unpacking them are important. For the greater good, without regard to special interest groups.
Cecil Harold Morden is an economist who has served as Director at National Treasury where he contributed to tax policy changes on: The taxation of alcoholic beverages, Environmental fiscal reform, Carbon Tax, Mineral and Petroleum Royalties He started his career as an Educator. Thereafter he worked as an economist at the CSIR, in theprivate sector, the Northern Cape Government, and the National Treasury. As Director of Indirect Taxes at the National Treasury he initially focused on the taxation of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, fuel taxes, and value added tax. In September 2005 he was promoted to Chief Director: Economic Tax Analysis, responsible for general tax policy advice and tax revenue estimation. Cecil also assisted with tax policy changes inter alia on: Converting the medical tax deduction into a medical tax credit; Tax free savings accounts; Tax measures to help facilitate equity financing for small and medium size businesses; The replacement of the Secondary Tax on Companies with a Withholding Tax on Dividends; and the taxation of Sugary Beverages.\n\nHe retired from the National Treasury in April 2017 and is currently a part-time extraordinary lecturer at the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria. Cecil Harold Morden studied at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in the USA.