BUDGET
CAROL PATON: Hike in VAT is widely expected in effort to consolidate debt
It has been a messy four months since Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba delivered the medium-term budget policy statement, revealing a R50bn hole due to lower than expected revenue. SA has veered wildly from a policy stance in the October statement that implied debt consolidation was not important, to one issued by the Presidency in November that said it was. Included in the latter statement was a commitment to raise taxes, cut spending and phase in free higher education for the poor sustainably. This last part was then overridden by a rogue statement from former president Jacob Zuma at the ANC conference that declared free education for students with a family income of R350,000 a year or less would be implemented immediately. While there was some collateral damage in the Treasury — the resignation of the head of the budget office, Michael Sachs — the department is still standing and is expected to produce the budget speech and all the budget documentation to its usual standard. Howeve...
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