Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, will deliver the Budget Speech 2019 in Cape Town on 20 February.<\/p>\n
Expectations are high that he will balance competing expenditure priorities to stimulate economic growth in spite of fiscal consolidation measures.<\/p>\n
However, the former central banker\u2019s task is formidable and he will likely have a difficult balancing act on his hands.<\/p>\n
One of the key balancing acts will be how Mboweni tackles the issue of the fuel levy.<\/p>\n
In an analysis of the upcoming budget, PwC tax experts noted that the general fuel levy has been increased significantly in each of the four previous budgets as a means of raising additional tax revenues.<\/p>\n
“The general fuel levy is only slightly progressive and was previously seen as being less politically sensitive than VAT,” PwC said.<\/p>\n
“This perception has, however, changed with the increased attention resulting from the VAT increase in 2018. As such, it may no longer be seen as a viable option for government to raise additional revenues.”<\/p>\n
“Increases are therefore likely to be limited to inflation. We therefore expect the general fuel levy to be increased by between 15c\/l and 20c\/l<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n RAF levy<\/strong><\/p>\n South African motorists are also likely to see an increase in the RAF levy.<\/p>\n In the 2018 medium-term budget speech,= it was stated that the liability of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is expected to grow to R393 billion by 2021\/2022 and that the RAF would require further large increases to the fuel levy in each of the following three years, PwC said.<\/p>\n