Sunday, June 14, 2020

Toxic Bean-Counter Says Hike of Top Tax Rates Won’t Work

People, he said, will just engage in more tax-planning or take part of the salary in stuff like a passage benefit. At the same he asked the Minister of Finance to make a u-turn because the flat tax has been a fundamental element of our success during the last fourteen years.

Well if it won’t work it’s kind of useless to ask Minister Padayachy to reconsider this policy decision. Plus passage and other benefits may be made taxable. Besides we can do a little research on how Sweden and other countries collect revenue with tax rates as high as 70% (we might look at our own history too as they were that high at one point in time). For sure I don’t see how two of his colleagues will spend a cute sum of money on air travel especially after Covid-19.

As for the success of his tax reforms he can start by answering two questions. 1. In how many years since 2006 did we get the promised 8% growth (he can tell us about 7% and 6% rates too); and 2. What has been the total impact if any of not reaching that target in terms of GDP and government revenue shortfall? 

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