More control where our tax money goes
I refer to the Business Report article, Evading tax duties a risk to businesses’ reputations – Moyane (Business Report, November 10) in which the Sars commissioner states that “tax morality of an organisation followed that of its leader and its board”. (Looking at the current state of affairs at Sars I believe the commissioner should get his house in order before pointing fingers at the taxpayers.) Kindly allow me to comment on his profound statement.
If we look on the other side of the fence, we as taxpayers can justifiably state that “revenue morality of government followed that of its leader and its cabinet”.
Clearly there should be morality in government leadership and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on how our hard earned money is spent. We as taxpayers are exposed, on a daily basis, to the massive corruption and criminal activity emanating from all levels of governance – national, provincial and municipal.
The common denominator being the practice of the ruling party to appoint its members to critical positions in government and state-owned enterprises who vehemently practice the use of taxpayers money for self-gain. Commonly known as “entitlement”.
Under the circumstances it should be us, the individual and corporate taxpayer, that should be calling the shots, not the other way round as per Tom Moyane’s statement.
Considering the massive losses being incurred by SOEs such as SAA, SABC, the Post Office, Petro SA and many, many more, plus wasteful and corrupt expenditure in government departments (and Nkandla) there is no accountability and no one appears charged. One can therefore argue that by continuing to diligently pay our taxes we are effectively aiding and abetting criminal activities within government and SOEs.
If we continue on this path of government’s total disregard for the rule of law, the constitution and the statutory requirements on the legal use of taxpayers’ money we may find in the near future a national tax revolt.
Taxpayers will continue to demand more accountability from government leadership. It’s our constitutional right. DOUG DA COSTA MOUNT EDGECOMBE