Taxpayers not milch cows
VAT has risen to 15% and this in a slow and sluggish economy. Citizens have to cough up because of government extravagance and rampant corruption. State capture is a good example of that.
Over the past nine years there has been a mismatch between government. Spending on the one hand and tax revenues collection on the other.
Instead of curtailing expenditure, Zuma, with the support of ANC MPs, created a bloated government with a host of ministers and deputy ministers. We have had the largest cabinet in the world with two geographical centres of operation to boot.
How did the Zuma government support such super extravagance? It borrowed heavily.
Responsible governments borrow to correct cyclical downturns in the economy. They do so by raising money from lenders to invest in infrastructure or to support social imperatives which cater for the skilling of the jobless. Such expenditure boosts the economy and the increased tax revenue which pays to redeem the short term debt. That is responsible borrowing.
The Zuma government, however, kicked the can down the road by making short-term loans into long term loans. Zuma and the ANC government did not borrow to stimulate the economy but to spend on the ANC. ANC cadres were the direct beneficiaries. The money borrowed was used on the consumption side. There is nothing to show for that expenditure.
The former president and many ministers have been living royally at state expense. Minister Bongani Bongo might be the latest, with allegations he booked into a hotel costing R7 000 per night. The media said he had run up a bill of R147 000.
Some ministers kept taxpayers in mind. Ministers Kader Asmal and Trevor Manuel shared a ministerial residence in Pretoria. President Ramaphosa is living in his own home. Why can’t newly appointed ministers share accommodation with their colleagues?
As a result of heavy consumption side expenditure, the national debt has been growing at a higher rate than GDP. The interest on this debt is R500 million (half a billion) per day, Saturdays and Sundays included. Taxes will climb to enable government to match revenue to expenditure.
Sustained citizen activism must oblige government to begin substantial reduction in consumption side expenditure. Taxpayers cannot be government’s ever-ready milch cows.