Government’s plan to pay for vaccine with increased taxes unacceptable
25 January 2021
The civil rights organisation AfriForum sent a letter to Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa as well as National Treasury today to express its dissatisfaction with government’s plans to increase taxes to pay for COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Treasury plans on increasing taxes or introducing a new tax to pay for the COVID-19 vaccinations. The government’s plans to fund the vaccinations are expected to be announced on 24 February during the Minister of Finance’s budget speech. This is worrisome because South Africa’s tax base is already overburdened and shrank over the past few years.
According to a study by the University of Cape Town’s Liberty Institute, taxpayers from the middle and higher classes shrank from 6,1 million in 2017 to 2,7 million. This is a decrease of more than 55%. However, the number of ultra-poor people, who earn less than the minimum wage, increased by 6,6 million people – about 54%.
Moreover, about 600 000 people have already lost their jobs as a result of the draconian lockdown regulations that are enforced to curb the spread of COVID-19.