LETTER: Godongwana’s sleight of hand

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced in his budget speech that there would be no inflation adjustments to the personal income tax tables and medical tax credits. By doing this he has allowed SA Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter to collect R18.3bn more in taxes.

It means those on progressive pay scales, whether salaries or pensions, and especially those who move up from one tax scale to the next after getting a salary increase, will see little, if anything, of the increase in their bank accounts.

With this sly move the minister takes a solid bite out of the hard-earned income of those who are already reeling under SA’s high tax pressure, and in effect draws a line through any well-intentioned increases.

Who pays for the laughs? Citizens who work hard; the pensioners who hoped for a decent pension adjustment. The Government Employees Pension Fund may as well pay the 6% increase announced for pensioners directly to Kieswetter.

Then there’s higher electricity rates, municipal bills and fuel prices. Service delivery is getting worse and the potholes in the roads bigger. Voters must remember these realities on May 29.

Joe Kleinhans
Annlin

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.