WHAT WILL TITO DO NEXT?

Now that Tito Mboweni has raised taxes to give cash-guzzling Eskom another R69bn of our money, who will he pickpocket to flush even more money down the dark, dirty tubes that are SAA, Petrosa, the SABC and Denel?

In case you had not noticed, from April 1 you will be paying more tax to help the finance minister raise an additional R15bn revenue for the fiscus. You will be paying a further R1.14 for a pack of 20 cigarettes. If you’re thinking of cutting out the cigarettes in favour of alcohol, be prepared to spend an additional R4.54 on your favourite whisky to fund these state-owned money wasters. You can’t take refuge in wine either.

If you think drinkers and smokers are being punished for their sins, then don’t drink any sugary drinks — you will not escape the sugar tax, which has gone up from 2.1c per gram of sugar to 2.21c per gram on drinks with more than 4g per 100ml.

If you think you can run, forget it. The 29c per litre increase in fuel levies will put paid to any escape plan. Never mind the June 5 introduction of the carbon tax of 9c per litre of petrol and 10c for diesel. That will tip taxes on fuel close to R6 a litre.

Let’s not forget: all these taxes are increasing to fund the corruption of cadres deployed by the ANC government to Eskom, Denel, the SABC and SAA — as well as those deployed in parliament, in cabinet and the provincial legislatures. I won’t ask what any of them contribute to society, particularly those heavies in the provincial governments.

Taxpayers in SA are among the most heavily taxed globally, as economist Mike Schussler demonstrated on these pages on budget day. Ours is also an increasing tax burden, with no end in sight.

So the question is: what taxes will the finance minister increase again next year when all three parts of SAA demand a bailout? There seems to be competition among the state-owned entities (SOES) to get as much money as possible out of the few remaining taxpayers.

Mboweni admitted in February that the National Treasury was still in talks with the SABC, which has requested a R6.8bn bailout. The SA Post Office,

Petrosa and Denel have been bankrupt for a while, and cannot meet their obligations without help from the government. SAA has been making noises for a while now, demanding more than R16bn to keep going over the next three years.

Bailouts without end

Lest we forget: the R69bn Eskom will be receiving over the next three years is the third bailout it has received in five years. You paid R83bn for it in 2015. The executives at SAA truly cannot remember how many times they have been bailed out over 25 years of democracy. Not that they were such a slick machine before that.

To bail out Eskom the last time, the government sold some of the family jewels. Its Vodacom stake had to go, to release R23bn to fund corruption at Eskom. Not only did Eskom hand the cash over to such unsavoury characters as Mckinsey and the Guptas, but taxpayers also lost the future dividends the stake earned, thus cutting out further revenue opportunity.

This time Mboweni vaguely said more “noncore financial assets” will be sold to fill the many begging bowls extended his way.

Except there are not many assets to be sold. And Mboweni’s real bosses, the trade unionists who stood aside and cheered while their allies looted the SOES to the point of bankruptcy, won’t allow him to sell off or close down the liabilities that provide employment for their members.

Taxpayers will continue to be battered and pickpocketed to fund more corruption.

The trade unionists stood aside and cheered while their allies looted the SOES to the point of bankruptcy