{"id":52674,"date":"2014-02-04T11:26:56","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T09:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=52674"},"modified":"2014-02-04T11:53:10","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T09:53:10","slug":"why-e-tolls-are-ridiculous-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/52674\/why-e-tolls-are-ridiculous-economist\/","title":{"rendered":"Why e-tolls are ridiculous: economist"},"content":{"rendered":"

A leading economist has again questioned the functionality of the e-toll system on Gauteng\u2019s freeways, citing the province\u2019s tax contribution which already supplements large portions of the country\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

It comes on the back of a third successive petrol hike of 39 cents, set for midnight on Tuesday (4 February), which is expected to put consumers under further pressure.<\/p>\n

In an interview on SABC, Chris Hart, chief economist at Investment Solutions, called Sanral\u2019s e-toll system ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a concentrated tax \u2013 and that\u2019s why people are rejecting it, because it means that infrastructure is paid for by the general taxes in other provinces, but in the province that actually carries the tax base, you have got to pay for it separately. This doesn\u2019t make sense,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why it doesn\u2019t resonate,\u201d Hart said of the public outcry following its implementation on December 6, 2013. \u201cIt\u2019s a very concentrated cost on a tax base that is feeding other provinces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauteng’s contribution to South Africa\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is at approximately 34.5%, with KwaZulu-Natal second, contributing only 16.5% to the national economy.<\/p>\n

“Gauteng’s contribution to the economy is critical, as it allows for the state to generate enough revenue to build schools, health facilities, roads and houses not only in Gauteng, but for the rest of South Africa,” the Gauteng Economic Development has said.<\/p>\n

Moreover, nearly half (46.5%) of the country\u2019s taxable personal income is generated by Gauteng residents, according to the SA Revenue Service.<\/p>\n

Gauteng is home to just under a quarter of the country’s population – 12.7 million people.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister,\u00a0Dipuo Peters<\/a>\u00a0has previously dismissed the idea of using\u00a0a fuel levy to pay for the roads, saying that it would be unfair for people in Gauteng to expect people from around the country to pay for roads in the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are saying, it is important that the user, the one who uses that particular road\u2026must be the one who pays for it,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

\"Sanral<\/a>

Sanral Fuel Levy Ad<\/p><\/div>\n

More on e-tolls<\/h3>\n

People want e-tolls: Transport Minister<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolls scaring consumers into financial aid<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

South Africans short sighted on e-tolls: economist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolls will kill people: economist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leading economist has questioned the e-toll system noting that Gauteng’s tax contribution already supplements large portions of the country\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1859,6646,1804,26,5140,429],"class_list":["post-52674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-chris-hart","tag-dipuo-peters","tag-e-tolls","tag-headline","tag-investment-solutions","tag-sanral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52674"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52682,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674\/revisions\/52682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}