The first democratically elected government in South Africa inherited apartheid policies and institutions that had resulted in a stagnant economy, an exceptional level of poverty, inequalities of income and wealth and extremely skewed access to basic services, natural resources and employment.

The period since 1994 has been characterised by wide-ranging and fundamental policy and legislative reforms. During the first five years, there were remarkable achievements in a range of policy developments. Literally hundreds of policies and laws were developed, many imbued with the ethos of economic and social development and containing specific provisions to promote these goals.

Yet, despite significant achievements in policy development, growing unemployment, income poverty and inequality and shortcomings in service delivery have generated debate on effective policies to transform the objective conditions of the poor. The government has committed to seriously reduce the high rates of unemployment, poverty and inequality during the next decade.

The South Africa Tax and Transfer Simulation Model (SATTSIM) has been developed by the Applied Development Research Solutions (ADRS). This user-friendly website version of the model makes the model accessible to researchers and policy makers. Users of the site can design counterfactual tax and expenditure policy scenarios, simulate their budgetary, poverty and distribution impacts, and compare the results with the simulation results of the current policy scenario.