Tax hikes in place by February? Treasury tells taxpayers to ‘bite the bullet’

Things have snowballed quickly in the past few days within the National Treasury: The looming threat of tax hikes has gone from a mere proposal, to an almost-guaranteed policy that will be introduced ‘within a matter of weeks’. On Tuesday, taxpayers were warned that they will face little choice when it comes to footing the bill for SA’s vaccine rollout.

Taxpayers set to cover vaccination bills

The total operation, expected to cost something in the region of R15 billion, is testing the government’s limits on what it can and cannot afford. President Ramaphosa has recently stated that ‘the pot is empty’, following a destructive year of pandemic-inspired fund allocations. Dondo Mogajane, DG of the National Treasury, isn’t sugarcoating matters either.

His appearance on Radio 702 essentially confirmed that tax hikes would be implemented soon. The Director-General has told South Africans that the time has come to ‘bite the bullet’, imploring approximately 23 million citizens to accept the need to bolster the state’s coffers. The decision now seems unavoidable, and it’s rapidly coming over the horizon.

When will the ‘vaccine tax hike’ come into effect?

Mogajane stated that an announcement will be made on ‘Budget Day’, which is set to take place in February. That means South Africans could be paying higher taxes in just one month’s time. Eish, it’s not going to be easy…

“None of the options available are ideal as you can imagine. However, at this point in time, we are facing a pandemic and the president confirmed that we will do anything possible to ensure we find the money [to buy vaccines].”

“If we have to tax to ensure that we get this money, we will do it. On the Budget Day, we will be detailing what option and it will be detailed enough to indicate where the money will come from. Commitment is there to pay for this.“

“One way or the other, we will have to bite the bullet, we have to do it for the sake of South Africans and saving lives. We have to do everything in our power to make sure that we buy these vaccines and vaccinate South Africans.“

Dondo Mogajane