Tax (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-24-budget-targets-fresh-revenue-streams
It took some time to get my head around this.
The short answer is nobody cares. But that’s obviously glossing way over the issue.
The real answer is a little more complicated. Not as complicated as the economic theories and analytical hoops these guys jump to try and choose, but I guess it must be complicated if they don’t get it.
I say nobody cares. We obviously all care if more money leaves our pockets, right? If all you hear about is money spent on things you can’t understand but must value if you want to call yourself a good South African. That guilt money that goes to fund projects nobody asked for and to line pockets nobody knows who has a hand in. New World Cup stadia, the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (which is a double-tax if the rumours are true), tender contractors that pull public funds then turn to vapour. Crumbling housing developments. Undelivered text-books. The list goes on.
But nobody would mind if that money was spent in a way that added value to our day to day lives. If we had better social security, improved (even free) public healthcare and transportation, a functional education system. Look up [tax rates in Scandanavia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates]. Swedes pay 25% VAT! Most of the free world has it easy by comparison. Personal tax rates can hit 60% and yet the Swedes couldn’t really be bothered.
Thing is all that money isn’t simply vanishing. It doesn’t feel like plunder the way tax often feels here. Enough of it makes it through to projects that make a difference to the lives of the ordinary citizen. Unemployment benefits, schooling, healthcare, pensions. See, if that’s what a tax hike bought, I’d be first in line like a hipster queuing for his iPhone on launch day, begging PLEASE just take my damn money. I don’t think I’m alone.
Uneducate 