Punching the clock for SA

When you put in long hours of work each day, you’re not just working for yourself.

Unless you’re breaking the law, you’re also working to pay your taxes that help keep SA running.

But what are you actually paying for?

OpenUp, a civic tech organisation, has updated its annual Tax Clock with the latest tax information from Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s budget.

OpenUp’s mandate is to build free tools that promote active citizenry and help people make informed decisions for positive social change.

Tax Clock is easy to use and calculates the time you spend each day contributing to government services, such as education, health or national debt – and the time you spend working for yourself.

All you need to do is go to www. taxclock.co.za and fill in your salary. You’ll get a minute-by-minute breakdown of how long you work each day to help pay for different parts of government costs, such as debt, education and defence.

Adi Eyal, director of OpenUp, says the Tax Clock is an opportunity for people to engage with the budget through the money they earn – and the tax they pay.

“When the budget comes out, people are usually only interested in how much they will be paying and if there are any rebates they can get. But they don’t engage with the budget,” he said.

“The budget says what our priorities are, and what we are going to spend your money on. So, it’s important for people to understand what they are working for.

“The Tax Clock will show them how they have contributed towards things like education or helped pay off national debt in a day.”

The new version of the Tax Clock incorporates up-todate personal tax details from Mboweni’s budget speech yesterday. – OpenUp

To calculate the time you spend each day contributing to government services

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