{"id":113616,"date":"2016-02-22T11:13:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T09:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=113616"},"modified":"2016-02-22T11:18:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T09:18:36","slug":"no-more-tax-for-corrupt-south-african-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/113616\/no-more-tax-for-corrupt-south-african-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"No more tax money for corrupt South African officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called for tax freeze until government has addressed its massive corruption and maladministration problem.<\/p>\n

Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage said that over the past decade, the government has displayed a growing appetite for more taxes, while the result has been less return for ‘our’ in put. “And in its place, a bloated and inefficient government”.<\/p>\n

Duvenage called on finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, to ‘plug the leaking holes in your tax bucket’ by addressing wasteful expenditure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa is struggling to maintain its rightful position as a leading developing nation,\u201d Duvenage said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are punching well below our weight and it comes down to poor governance, maladministration, corruption and weak political leadership.”<\/p>\n

In a video message to Gordhan titled \u201cYou cannot raise taxes while the bucket is leaking\u201d, Duvenage suggested the following seven actions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2019t increase taxes this year. First fix the lethargic government, and clean up public administration.<\/li>\n
  2. Reduce the bloated size and the extravagant cost of the government by 30% over the next five years.<\/li>\n
  3. Seriously fight corruption, with a well-executed plan and no political meddling.<\/li>\n
  4. Privatize non-strategic state-owned assets. Government must get out of the business of business.<\/li>\n
  5. Create laws and policies which will stimulate investment and create jobs.<\/li>\n
  6. Improve education and healthcare. This includes better trained and paid teachers.<\/li>\n
  7. Promote transparency among all government departments and state owned entities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Duvenage said that South Africa has no excuse to show a worse economic performance than our peers, especially with a hard working population, great natural resources, and excellent tourism potential.<\/p>\n

    \u201cSouth Africa\u2019s GDP growth should be anywhere between 3% and 5% per annum, for years to come,\u201d said Duvenage.<\/p>\n

    He encouraged the government to \u201cwalk with us\u201d with meaningful action, and to start now.<\/p>\n