Tax keeps on rising, but state service remains utterly poor

The former President of the USA, FD Roosevelt, remarked that tax is like membership fees which citizens pay for the privileges that we receive as a result of our membership to an organised society. In South Africa, however, members get the short end of the stick, seeing as membership fees continue to rise while our society can no longer be described as organised.  

Nhlanhla Nene, former Minister of Finance, announced an increase in the rates of personal income tax during his budget speech in February 2015. However, in South Africa there is a small group of people who are solely held responsible for the all the membership fees, while the state is freely handing out membership to others. The 2016 budget speech is around the corner, which means that the hard-earned income of taxpayers is once again in the sliding scale.

Statistics South Africa (SSA) estimated the country’s population at 54 million in 2014, while only 5,5 million tax returns were submitted at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) during the 2014 tax season. This means that only 10,22% of South Africans are contributing to 100% of South Africa’s tax.

For as long as the ANC is at the helm, we as citizens will pay ridiculous membership fees for an extremely poor service. South Africans feel the direct effects of state deterioration by means of load shedding, poor service delivery, a high crime figure and a low economic growth.

These high membership fees, which are payable in return for a dysfunctional society, leave many yearning for the fleshpots of Egypt, while others are finding a better refuge abroad.

But what happens to those of us who stay behind? Do we find hope in a country where we can live free, safe and prosperous, or do we keep quiet? This whilst the ANC government is centralising power and instruments and redistributing it by means of social grants until all of us are equally poor? Or are we instead going to take responsibility ourselves by building our own universities, establishing neighbourhood watches and privatising service delivery? Let us build our own institutions and replace the dysfunctional state institutions by organising our society ourselves, as we know Afrikaners can.

Monique Taute

National Campaign Coordinator

AfriForum