Mr Ramaphosa, cut the R5.30 tax on petrol now
1 October 2018
Today’s announcement of yet another petrol increase of 99c per litre – the seventh increase in just 10 months – is a vote of no confidence in Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC and its ability to revive our economy, cut the burden on ordinary south Africans, and create access to jobs for those without work.
South Africa’s economy is in meltdown, as we’ve entered a formal recession for the first time in a decade. Unemployment is a record high, and the buying power of the rand is steadily eroding. The cost of living has gone up. VAT has gone up. Income tax has gone up. “Sin taxes” have gone up. Electricity has gone up. Food has gone up. South Africans are getting poorer, and the government’s answer to this is to increase the cost of living for all South Africans.
The ANC cannot continue to blame these fuel price increases on “international markets”. The reality is, roughly one third – or R5.30 – of the cost of petrol per litre goes directly to government via two General Fuel Levy and the Road Accident Fund Levy.
This tax has increased far more than anything else in recent years. Over the past ten years the General Fuel Levy has almost doubled, and the RAF levy has more than tripled.