Zille’s tax revolt call gets flak from tax experts

Tax experts are lashing out at the “irresponsible” and “undemocratic” call for a tax revolt from Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, describing it as a recipe for disaster that will punish the poor.

Zille sent out a series of tweets this weekend threatening to organise a tax revolt if implicated people were not prosecuted after the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture concluded.

Coenie Vermaak, CEO of the Electronic Toll Collection Company, said Zille’s proposal was a “reckless, knee-jerk” reaction that did not consider the long-term effect on the country.

Vermaak said: “Tax revolts never work. They just create pools of debt that taxpayers still have to deal with, long after the electioneering and emotional grandstanding are over.”

Tax expert Judge Dennis Davis echoed this, saying the consequences would be disastrous.

“If the government were to run out of money due to a boycott of tax, millions of poor South Africans who rely on government services would suffer,” he said.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said South Africans would not like to live in a country where a fully functional tax revolt was taking place. He said services would stop due to unpaid wages, which would lead to even more dysfunctional governance and eventually a failed state.

Duvenage added: “To carry out a tax revolt we would need to have big businesses lead the movement, which is highly unlikely.

“Citizens have the right to be frustrated because they are not happy with the government. You can see this in the decline in tax morality.

“We already have silent tax revolts taking place, with people using cash to carry out their business operations.”

Davis said “the anger [of the people] lies in the absence of accountability [relating to corruption].

“The NPA has hired a new prosecutions director and we should give them a chance to do their job as they are doing with the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture].

Duvenage said: “Unless the government proves to the taxpayer that they will do their best to correct their wrongs, they will struggle to get all the revenue due to them.

“They need to regain the trust of the taxpayer and aim to improve tax morality.”

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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