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Critics slam ANC proposals to tax SA workers ‘an extra R3 000 per month’
This would be a travesty for millions of taxpayers, and few of us could afford – or even stomach – an extra R3 000 per month going back to the government.
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As soon as Lindiwe Zulu published a green paper suggesting that millions of South Africans should have 12% of their salaries got towards a new ‘state fund’, you knew there’d be trouble. In fact, the DA Shadow Minister for Finance has crunched the numbers, and claims that the proposals would cost lower-earners an additional R3 000 per month.
An extra R3 000 per month in tax – what is going on?
The so-called ‘NSSF’ project is the brainchild of the Social Development Department. By essentially introducing a new tax for South Africans who earn just over R275 000 each year, the money would be used to set up a government-run fund that provides more cash for disability and unemployment benefits. The suggestion, however, has been slammed.
There’s discontent amongst the general public, but the DA – as the official opposition – are livid.
One must ask how such a proposal even comes to be released for public comment, and why Cabinet and the President did not stop it before release. This points to a breakdown in leadership at the centre of government. – @geordinhl
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) August 19, 2021
DA lash out at ‘basic lack of understanding’
Geordin Hill-Lewis says that ordinary workers are being ‘regressively targeted’, and he has called for the immediate scrapping of the NSSF green paper. The shadow minister also branded the entire idea as ‘absurd’.
“The Democratic Alliance rejects the Department of Social Development’s new absurd proposal to tax South Africans anywhere between 8-12% extra, amounting to nearly R3000 a month for those earning R275 000 a year. South Africans are already facing extraordinary financial pressure, and no nation can be taxed into prosperity.”
“The proposal should be withdrawn and binned, as it shows a lack of basic understanding of how the tax system works, and is bizarrely regressive in that it is aimed at low earners rather than high earners. The proposal is essentially to tax low-income workers and the struggling middle class much more.” | Geordin Hill-Lewis
