Firstly, let me begin by congratulating Trevor Manual (One of our few ministers who actually deserves his post) on another well rounded and almost perfect budget. Now, the rant:
South Africa has 5.3million taxpayers, which on first glance looks to be a reasonable amount, but why then, do we have 13million people on social welfare? That meanse that I, as an honest, hard working taxpayer have to fork over the living allowance for almost 2.5 people every month, which is to say that I am responsible for feeding 3.5mouths (including myself), how is this fair? Why should other people’s inability to find employment affect me? I work my butt off (often working 12 hours a day) and sometimes working weekends just so that I can earn some overtime and/commision to help with all my financial responsibilities (yes, I have my own private anuity, disability and medical insurances) as well as having to have a car (due to a lacking public transportation system) and I have to pay out my ear for broadband (that at the best of times works only sporadically) in order to just be able to continue working (so as to pay for abovementioned “luxuries”). God help me if I wish to relax, since sin-taxes are almost making it impossible to afford drinking these days and my schedule at work doesn’t really allow for most other passtimes. I am sick of having to pay for RDP houses (Which never get built), transport infrastructure upgrades (Which currently only mean that I have to drive through 40km of roadworks everyday, slowing traffic down more than ever) and feeding people who believe that the government is responsible for their 300 illegitimate children.
My father recently spent a few weeks in ICU at a prestigious private hospital (funded by his personal medical aid, not state subsidies) where the standard of the nursing staff (As I am told is the case in most hospitals these days) was so low that we had to personally see to it that the gaping wound in my fathers throat got cleaned (while we were spending a fortune on doctors trying to find out why my dad had an infection). It saddens me that the people who are actually paying taxes are the ones who don’t make use of the “facilities” our taxes pay for.
Well, we get the police you say, I have to pay a hectic insurance premium every month because of all the claims I’ve had to put in due to theft and/or lacking road safety (Both police and The Transport Ministry are to blame here) because a. The police aren’t in fact protecting us and b. The roads that our taxes are supposed to go for are in such an appalling state. My father’s accident (Where a minibus taxi knocked him off his bicycle) was a result of poor road surface (and as it happens, I totalled my previous car on the same traffic circle due to the same poor road surface causing a burst tire at 40km/h round a circle, as per the speed limit) is costing us more than a million rand in hospital fees thusfar (thankfully mostly covered by his very good medical aid, which costs him an arm and a leg each month anyway), yet we cannot claim that back from the road accident fund (another tax service that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to) becuase we cannot prove that my father lost more than 30% of his abilities (This while he was in a coma and in fact, had no abilities whatsoever). My question is merely this, why don’t we, the taxpayers, get any benefits from all the tax that is collected from us each year, while illiterate, undecutad, previously disadvantaged people (Who through BEE are entitled to better paying jobs than me) get to draw all of the benefits?
In short, the answer is this, our country is experiencing a “brain-drain”, where the few experienced and qualified individuals that do reside here, are leaving because quite honestly, even living in one of the poorest nations in the world (The USA), has more benefit than this once great country… Because our government has failed us, time and again, and it’s about time we gave another party a chance.
Another point of contention on this topic is VAT, why, if there is supposedly no VAT raised on such things as milk and bread etc., do you still have to pay the 14% at the till? Do I really have to collect all my till slips at the end of the year and claim back the VAT on 365 odd transactions just to prove that I bought these things? Can’t we put a simple system in place so that the VAT isn’t levied at the end point? That would not only save alot of hard work (Both on the side of the taxpayers and SARS) but will also remove a redundant loop in the economy. And shouldn’t I be able to deduct my entire insurance premium and any subsequent additional charges levied by third parties (excess) from my tax, since the only reason I am paying these amounts is becaue of a failure in my government in providing me with adequate protection of my assets and transportation infrastructure? Furhter that, due to firearm laws being so strictly enforced these days, I am unable to protect myself from potentially violent intruders in my own home, resulting in probably my own death due to poor policing service. And no, I am not blaming the police, there are men and women there that do a great deal more than should fairly be expected from them. It is once again the failure of government to provide what they should, rahter than attempting to help the “poor”. I have no issue assisting those that need it, but in all honesty, all the people just holding their hand out for free handouts should be sent to live in a country where that is all they do (Nl. Zimbabwe), they can send their expats who are willing to work, and they can have our useless nationals….
My opinions, as always, my own, because, I am awesome…
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