DA welcomes retraction of 12% proposed tax

1 September 2021 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the announcement by the Department of Social Development (DSD) that the green paper on a social security tax of up to 12% has been withdrawn.

After the initial publication of the green paper, the DA launched a public campaign to put pressure on the DSD to scrap their asinine proposal. Our pressure has paid off.

South Africans are already facing unprecedented economic pressures in an environment with low economic growth and the highest unemployment rate in the world. It is therefore downright immoral for Minister Lindiwe Zulu to suggest taxing the poorest of the poor far beyond their means to pay.

The ANC has, once again, shown that they do not have the interests of ordinary South Africans at heart. They cannot pay their own taxes, yet want the poor to hand over the little money they have to government just so it can be wasted on pointless blue light brigades and bloated civil servant salaries.

Issued by Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 1 September 2021