WEALTH WATCH: Use unglamorous tax breaks to soften the erosion of income
Pravin Gordhan is no fan of liberal economics but rich and poor should benefit from a new authority, writes Stephen Cranston
The budget should be grist to the mill for a wealth watcher. I can remember in the UK how the chancellor of the exchequer would spend up to three hours on the minutiae of tax, down to VAT on hot but not cold takeaways, hurting the working man by taxing fish and chips. There was just too much detail to cover in Westminster back in the 1970s and 1980s to meander into political philosophy: that was reserved for the party conferences. Reading through this week’s budget speech, there was barely a page on tax and most of the rest was devoted to the philosophy of inclusive growth. Understandably, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was reluctant to wait until the ANC’s conference in December to set out his ideological stall. The finance minister made it clear — and he confirmed this during his press conference on the day — that he is not, and I suspect has never been, a fan of liberal economics, or what used to be called the Washington consensus: cut taxes, cut government services and watch th...
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