There is no fat left in the system and he has had to put his considerable abilities to the test in balancing the various requirements of this budget.

That's according to Chris Gilmour of Absa Asset Management Private Clients

"From a market perspective, the two aspects that strike one immediately are the changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and the rate of the new dividend tax, which replaces Secondary Tax on Companies (STC). CGT rises from an effective 10% to 13.33%, while dividend tax will be 15% (from April 1) compared with STC of 10%.

"But at the same time, the CGT exemption threshold, below which no CGT is payable, rises from R20 000 to R30 000. Pension funds will not pay the dividend tax, so they will be beneficiaries of the abolition of STC. Previously, any dividends which they received would have been taxed at 10%; now, they will not be required to pay this. But individual investors may be worse off under this system, depending on what the companies from which they receive their dividends, decide what to do after April 1," says Gilmour.

The Treasury has stated that it will look at innovative ways of encouraging saving by offering annual exemptions of R30,000 capped at a lifetime contribution of R550,000 into tax free savings accounts. This is good, according to Gilmour, and should be positive for savings generally when it is most needed. "However, we need more detail with regard to this."

With regard to infrastructure spending, theoretically it can go to as much as R3.2 trillion, with more than R810bn over the next three years. "We need to see much more in the way of tangible evidence of spend, though," notes Gilmour.

Road tolls are coming into effect at end-April. Although significantly reduced from the original plan, they will still have a negative impact on consumer spending, adds Gilmour.

Back to Budget 2012 Special Report