Some white people show outrage after Maimane says he’ll fight ‘black tax’

While black people were saying “Does he know what black tax is?,” “Is he going to talk to our families individually and ask them to stop asking us for money?” and “Black tax isn’t a number you play with. It’s legacy. Its inherited responsibility due to centuries of black oppression and denial of economic opportunity inequality,” some white people were getting upset because they thought DA leader Mmusi Maimane was saying black people shouldn’t pay tax to the state.

These were just some of the comments and questions that were tweeted in response to Maimane’s declaration that his party would help black professionals combat black tax if said professionals were to vote for the party in the upcoming elections.

For those who don’t know, “black tax” is the informal term that’s arisen to describe the fact that breadwinners in black communities often carry a financial burden to care for a multitude of family members and extended family members in one way or the other, and that such payments are often simply expected.

It is not an actual “tax” levied by government on anyone.

Speaking on a wide range of campaign promises made by his party, the Soweto native told News24 in a recent interview that he could relate to “the black tax issue” and went on to share that his party had a plan to combat it.

“If we don’t have this vision of putting a job in every home, of building a capable state, then this issue of black tax will be exacerbated even more, as more people join the ranks of unemployment,” Maimane told the publication.

However, not all social media users were buying the explanation and weighed in on Maimane’s statements, with some dismissing him as not even understanding what black tax is.

Others seem to have misunderstood the concept of “black tax” altogether and have threatened to boycott the DA as a result. Some merely questioned the meaning of the term while asking if there was such a thing as “white tax.”

READ NEXT: Most black South Africans don’t save for retirement. This must change

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.