SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: Ground the gravy plane
In the past two years, Comair has paid more than R350m in income tax. SAA has paid no taxes to the fiscus in the past 23 years
On March 19, airline operator Comair will transfer R18.47m in cash into the bank accounts of its investors. Another R4.99m will be transferred into the bank account of the SA Revenue Service on the same day. The first amount goes to the holders of its 469m issued shares, to reward their faith in the operator of low-cost carrier kulula.com and the franchise holder of British Airways in Southern Africa. The latter is Comair’s dividend tax, payable to the people of SA as a reward for providing the good, safe and fair environment in which the 72-year-old aviation company operates. Except, the SA commercial aviation market is not good, safe or fair for private airline companies. The gross R23m that Comair declared as a dividend in the six months ended December comes after it paid income tax of R85.4m to the taxpayer. This is in addition to the gross R65.7m final dividend it paid for the year ended June last year. On that occasion the company also paid R137.7m in income tax to the people ...
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