Good luck with a tough task, Tito

Seldom has the person controlling South Africa’s purse strings ever faced such a difficult task as does Finance Minister Tito Mboweni when he presents his budget on Wednesday.

The SA economy is increasingly looking like it is headed into a death spiral and even the most pessimistic growth forecasts for the next 12 months look as though they underestimate the magnitude of the problems facing us.

Mboweni has to find money from somewhere to at least help arrest the ongoing ballooning of the deficit – that is, the amount of money the government spends more than it brings in in income.

Experts believe he may have no option than to increase VAT from its current level of 15% to 16% – something which would bring in an instant and easy R25 billion-plus.

However, even that won’t be enough, so there has been further speculation by economists in recent days that government might introduce a “once-off” tax, to be levied on all taxpayers and couched in the language of “development”.

Robert Mugabe did similar things with tax levies in Zimbabwe in the immediate years after independence in 1980 … and continued imposing such “special” taxes on a regular basis.

Hopefully, Mboweni and the planners in Treasury will want to avoid the folly of the rulers to the north of us … but they have very little wriggle room when it comes to balancing the books.

Mboweni needs to wield the axe in government, cutting both jobs and the ridiculous perks enjoyed by those who rule over us.

That, though, is highly unlikely, given that the ANC runs on favours and jobs-for-pals.

And dealing with the monster of Eskom, which continues to devour our cash, as well as SAA, will not be easy.

Now, more than ever before, Minister Mboweni, you deserve our fullest support and best wishes.

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