S.Africa: Greedy useless Black Government wants to increase VAT

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[They are useless, greedy, inefficient, corrupt and foolish … but hey, they need to steal more money from the common person! Jan]

Solidarity believes that the National Treasury’s proposal to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) by up to two percentage points to supplement state income is a crazy idea.

This move is reportedly being considered to enable the continued payment of the social relief grant of R350 amid a public financial crisis.

If such a step is decided upon, it will unnecessarily further burden already vulnerable households in South Africa.

With the previous VAT increase in 2018, it was observed that it yielded nearly half of the Treasury’s expected revenue – a clear indication that South Africans are already overburdened.

Any attempts to increase taxes further will not have the desired effect, and in reality, the Treasury will be trying to extract blood from a stone. This is also clearly stated in a report from the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI).

"The solution to the expected budget deficit must be sought on the expenditure side. The government urgently needs to control its spending and hand over more of its functions to the private sector. The government must realize it simply does not have any more money to chase pipe dreams like the National Health Insurance and all sorts of other nonsensical ideas," says Theuns du Buisson, an economic researcher at SRI.

"The real solution is urgent economic growth. Disposable income is the decisive factor for this, and a tax increase will put it under even more pressure.

"The government should instead focus on removing obstacles for the private sector and solving the power crisis with the help of the private sector. It will cost the state nothing and dramatically broaden the tax base."

Therefore, Solidarity calls on the Treasury to take targeted action against mismanagement. Furthermore, the Treasury owes an explanation to the people of South Africa.

"The extent to which they threaten ordinary, hardworking people in the country with higher taxes is a shame. Ultimately, citizens are once again paying the price for the government’s incompetence," says Du Buisson.

Read Solidarity’s full report on planned VAT increases here.

Source: https://aanlyn.solidariteit.co.za/publieke/artikel/verslag-wys-btw-verhogings-is-nog-n-dwase-stap