Alex Tabisher weighs in on the tax debate
IAM NOT a political commentator, but I cannot be impervious to the national and international ebb and flow of human development (and under development) that affects me in a very real way. I have suffered the ignominy of racial marginalisation. I was 53 years old before I could legally vote. I inherited the dilemma of not being white enough for a decent life under the Nationalists. At present, I am not black enough to benefit in a palpable way under the ANC.
Yet through all these years, I have paid my taxes, reared my children to be responsible citizens, aspired to and reached the peak of my profession and lately I’ve even been invited to express opinions such as the ones you are reading now.
I obeyed the laws and, where I could get away with it, even broke some just for the advantages it held.
I have been lambasted, pummelled, marginalised and labelled as less than human, yet I have never abdicated my pride in being a son of this soil.
And now, when we begin to see a semblance of release from gluttonous corruption, we are already saddled with an increase in taxes with no consultation. There are no advantages that accrue from this new drive for solutions.
For example, Cyril accepted Zuma’s suicidal last-gasp promise of no-fee tertiary education.
He also allowed a young man to perpetrate that most heinous of remedies – an increase in VAT – for replenishing the raided coffers of state. Then he sacked him.
We inherited a visionless deterioration in the water supply, and again the solution is more taxes, this time for boreholes and well-points and so forth.
In a word, those who proffer solutions, are taxed for their ingenuity and resourcefulness.
Common to the national and provincial dilemmas I have sketched, is the knee-jerk reaction to the ineptitude of those who rule. We are going to fix it, yes. But who do we get to pay for the repairs?
And in this real and painful way I am a political commentator who asks with heart-wrenching passion: why do you always tax the poor?
Why don’t directors of companies and ministers drive smaller cars? Or pay themselves smaller severance packages when they are exposed?
Why don’t the shareholders who push these directors not negotiate smaller profit margins, or employer-participation for a more equitable slice of the pie?
We saw the superb example of the Click’s employer dividend.
If we aim for a collective solution, we must engage in a collective effort. Land distribution, more realistic social packages, re-education to counter the myth of free lunches: these are some of the solutions.
The problem is not applicable to the ANC only. It affects the whole population. So please involve us all in the solution.