This is South Africa’s Tax Freedom Day (TFD). From this day until the end of 2016, we start working for ourselves. TFD has never arrived so late – five days after last year and a staggering five weeks post TFD of 1994.
The Free Market Foundation calculates TFD annually as a measure of how deeply the State is digging into our wallets. It shows the direct correlation between Government spending and how many days the nation’s citizens most work to fund them. Only from today, almost half way through 2016, do we start working for ourselves.
On the upside, it might have been worse. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan sliced a few hours off this year’s indenture when budgeting to save R25bn in 2016 through the State’s new Chief Procurement Office, a dream years in the planning.
On the downside, the way President Jacob Zuma keeps plundering the public purse (Nkandla, State-funded court cases, a new jet, fancy cars for four wives, etc), Gordhan will need to pull an even bigger rabbit out of next year’s hat to keep TFD at May 25th.
