Let me make the bold statement and say it outright, “South Africa is being overtaxed!”
No, it’s not a new revelation, we’ve all known it for years, but it’s time that we begin to speak out.
“Money doesn’t grow on trees”, as they say, so where do financially burdened South Africans find additional revenue each month to be able to afford the funding of our government’s ever increasing taxes imposed on goods and services?
The world is still reeling from the recent global recession; we’ve stretched our monthly budgets as far as they can go. Ten percent of South Africans are funding the other 90% of our population, not to mention the illegal foreigners who pervade our land. (Can anyone say, “Unsustainable model”?)
Let’s analyse this quickly. The company I work for pays tax on their earnings, I pay income tax on my monthly salary, all goods and services I purchase are taxed at 14% VAT, and then I still have to pay monthly municipal rates and taxes.
The car I drive is filled with fuel which is taxed with a government levy, then there’s the car licence I have to renew every year and with the new SANRAL tolling system being introduced, I’m going to have to fork out money I don’t have just to be able to get to work every day.
We have TV licences (and businesses who wish to play music or show music on their TVs, have to also purchase a license from SAMRO), dog licences, fishing licences, etc. What’s next; public toilet licences that are charged on a basis of “per-annual-load”?
Let’s not even talk about the undeserved and exorbitant “commissions” we have to pay estate agents, not to mention the bond transfer fees. And don’t even get me started on all the hidden admin fees our banks, insurance and medical aid companies charge us each month.
It’s a case of taking from the “haves” and giving to the “have nots”, like Robin Hood. Only it’s legal because it’s called taxation. I call it daylight robbery.
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