The firm explained that, prior to the inflationary increase in 2025, the general fuel levy had not been adjusted since 2021 due to high fuel prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTherefore, it is expected that the National Treasury will once again propose an inflationary increase in the general fuel levy in Budget 2026,\u201d the firm said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The RAF levy could also rise after several years of restraint. \u201cThe RAF levy was not increased in the last three years in order to support households and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In light of fuel prices currently sitting at four-year lows, the government may take the opportunity to increase the RAF levy in line with inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis would be done to ease the burden on the RAF, which is running at a deficit on an annual basis and is technically insolvent,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuel taxes have become a major component of what South Africans pay at the pump. As of February, the general fuel levy currently adds R4.01 per litre, and the RAF levy another R2.18 per litre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, they account for more than R6 per litre in taxes alone. If all taxes and levies were removed, petrol and diesel would cost less than R14 per litre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retail fuel price is made up of two main parts. These are the Basic Fuel Price (BFP) and government taxes and levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BFP reflects international oil prices and the rand-dollar exchange rate, which determine the cost of importing fuel into South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Empty promises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ramaphosa-Mantashe-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhile motorists often blame oil markets for rising prices, the numbers tell a different story. Over the past five years, global oil prices rose by only 13.6% and the rand weakened by 9.75% against the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These increases do not fully explain the sharp rise in pump prices. Instead, repeated tax adjustments have played a major role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the latest 2025 changes, motorists pay about R6.37 in tax per litre of 93 petrol and R6.24 per litre of diesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fuel levy system has long been criticised as a convenient and lucrative revenue stream for the state, reducing the incentive to lower it even when households are under financial pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The general fuel levy alone raises roughly R100 billion annually, placing it among the government\u2019s largest sources of income alongside VAT and income taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These concerns have prompted calls for a structural overhaul of how fuel prices are calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe previously acknowledged the distortion caused by levies when speaking at the African Oil Week Conference in Cape Town in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the fuel price, there is the general fuel levy, and there is the Road Accident Fund, linked to the price of fuel. So, instead of buying a litre of fuel for R14, you buy it for R20,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur argument is that you are distorting the price of fuel. Let\u2019s find the formula for separating these two things and make the price of fuel visible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the government intended to conclude the discussion \u201cin the shortest possible time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa shared similar comments in his opening address to Parliament in July 2024, saying administrative prices\u2014including the fuel price formula\u2014would undergo a comprehensive review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite those promises, the immediate outlook points in the opposite direction. With fiscal pressure mounting and fuel prices currently relatively low, the upcoming budget may deliver another increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite recent fuel price cuts in 2026 so far, major accounting firm PwC experts the Finance Minister to increase the fuel and RAF levy for a revenue bump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":812982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[21799,20263,2407,853],"class_list":["post-851511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-finance-minister-enoch-godongwana","tag-general-fuel-levy-gfl","tag-pwc","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851536,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511\/revisions\/851536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhile motorists often blame oil markets for rising prices, the numbers tell a different story. Over the past five years, global oil prices rose by only 13.6% and the rand weakened by 9.75% against the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These increases do not fully explain the sharp rise in pump prices. Instead, repeated tax adjustments have played a major role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the latest 2025 changes, motorists pay about R6.37 in tax per litre of 93 petrol and R6.24 per litre of diesel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fuel levy system has long been criticised as a convenient and lucrative revenue stream for the state, reducing the incentive to lower it even when households are under financial pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The general fuel levy alone raises roughly R100 billion annually, placing it among the government\u2019s largest sources of income alongside VAT and income taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These concerns have prompted calls for a structural overhaul of how fuel prices are calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe previously acknowledged the distortion caused by levies when speaking at the African Oil Week Conference in Cape Town in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the fuel price, there is the general fuel levy, and there is the Road Accident Fund, linked to the price of fuel. So, instead of buying a litre of fuel for R14, you buy it for R20,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur argument is that you are distorting the price of fuel. Let\u2019s find the formula for separating these two things and make the price of fuel visible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the government intended to conclude the discussion \u201cin the shortest possible time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa shared similar comments in his opening address to Parliament in July 2024, saying administrative prices\u2014including the fuel price formula\u2014would undergo a comprehensive review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite those promises, the immediate outlook points in the opposite direction. With fiscal pressure mounting and fuel prices currently relatively low, the upcoming budget may deliver another increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite recent fuel price cuts in 2026 so far, major accounting firm PwC experts the Finance Minister to increase the fuel and RAF levy for a revenue bump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":812982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[21799,20263,2407,853],"class_list":["post-851511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-finance-minister-enoch-godongwana","tag-general-fuel-levy-gfl","tag-pwc","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851536,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851511\/revisions\/851536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}