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To: President Ramaphosa

Stop another VAT hike, tell Pres Ramaphosa to commit

We call on President Ramaphosa to make a public commitment that there will be no VAT hike in 2019. Instead there should be an increase in the Corporate Income Tax since 89% of companies were not tax compliant last year.

Why is this important?

In the last few days a conservative economist has been suggesting to the media that there could be another VAT hike in 2019 [1]. It’s suspicious that some economists, with connections to the private sector, suggest a VAT hike rather than a corporate income tax hike. This could be the private sector's agenda or national government testing how angry people would be with another VAT hike.

Right now, with a new Finance Minister and the mid-term budget announcement just one week away, we have an opportunity to immediately push back against the idea of a VAT hike. If enough of us come together, we can flood the inbox of the Presidency with a clear message: we the people will not pay the bill. If we act quickly President Ramaphosa may have no choice but to commit to not increasing the VAT in 2019.

The gap between the rich and poor in Mzansi is one of the largest in the world. It is unjust that Treasury keeps proposing solutions to the ongoing economic crisis by increase the tax burden on the majority, especially poor Black women. 89% of companies in SA are not tax compliant [2] and R965 billion leaves the continent in illicit financial flows every year. [3] Mzansi is dominated by greedy multinational companies. We the people essentially subsidize corporates. Tell government and Treasury to tax the mega-rich instead.

[1] SA could face another VAT increase, say experts. Citizen Reporter for The Citizen October 2018

[2] Corporates not ‘tax compliant’. Baldwin Ndaba and African News Agency for The Mercury 22 Aug 2018

[3] Parliament: Illicit financial flows and the history of disappointment. Greg Nicolson for the Daily Maverick. August 2017

South Africa

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Updates

2018-10-23 10:25:27 +0200

1,000 signatures reached

2018-10-17 13:24:31 +0200

500 signatures reached

2018-10-17 09:44:22 +0200

100 signatures reached

2018-10-17 09:24:47 +0200

50 signatures reached

2018-10-17 09:18:27 +0200

25 signatures reached

2018-10-17 09:14:30 +0200

10 signatures reached