All you need to know about #Budget2016 in 5 key points
[Spoiler] It all has to do with taxes, taxes, taxes.
Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 24 February) the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan took to the podium to tell South Africans everywhere how their money will be managed by the government.
Gordhan addressed several of the issues the country has been abuzz about, worrying about the future of the economy.
As noted by @mathildemyburgh on twitter during the budget speech:
Government has heard the public's call for it to tighten its belt, said #Gordhan #Budget2016 "We tightened it by one notch." @RdptRecord
— Mathilde Tomson-Myburgh (@mathildemyburgh) February 24, 2016
"In fiscal terms we cannot spend money we do not have… We have to be tough on ourselves." #Gordhan #Budget2016 @RdptRecord
— Mathilde Tomson-Myburgh (@mathildemyburgh) February 24, 2016
Tenders, for example, is to be better managed by way of e-tendering to enforce transparency, he said. Government spending will be cut and addressed in several ways, one of which is to lessen the municipalities, from 278 257. Higher education will be focused on with a massive R93 billion budget over the next three years, while R475 million will be dedicated to developing small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs).
Most particularly, and a point which affects almost every warm-blooded resident, he announced the government’s plans to add R18 billion to revenue through changes in how people and products are taxed. The Record summarised the issues that directly affect Roodepoort residents in five easy-to-remember bullet points.
• Introducing: A new levy on tyres. The proposed levy on tyres will help finance recycling programmes, Gordhan said.
• Introducing: A new levy on sugar-sweetened drinks. Basically, your Fanta Grape or the Coke you use as a mixer will be a bit more expensive.
• Duties on alcohol and tobacco products will increase. As always, ‘sinners’ are the first to be affected with a higher sin tax.
• The general fuel levy will increase by 30 cents per liter of fuel.
• Personal tax relief is set at R5.5 million, which will partially compensate for inflation. The focus here is on lower and middle income earners, Gordhan said.
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