Times Of Swaziland: NEAL: LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF TAX-HEAVY BUDGET

NEAL: LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF TAX-HEAVY BUDGET
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BY STANLEY KHUMALO on 01/03/2019 03:49:00


MBABANE – The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, has attempted to justify
his tax-heavy budget.
The budget, which he presented on Wednesday, was viewed as one with minimum cuts
and more taxes.
Rijkenberg conceded that the taxes would hit hard on the poor and in the same
breath justified that in the long-term, it would benefit most of the unemployed,
low income earners and the elderly.
This, he said, would have ripple effects on the civil servants who are currently
aggrieved for not getting their cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA).
Awarded
The minister said despite that civil servants were not awarded CoLA, their
burden of catering for those in the lower bracket of the economy would fall off.
In his explanation, Rijkenberg said the fuel tax and VAT on electricity would
hit hard on the poor but government had devised means to compensate them. He
said the minimum wage, which is soon to be introduced, would put something into
the pockets of the low income earners.
It is anticipated that the minimum wage would be around E1 500, though the
minister did not wish to commit on any figures. He could only state that it
would be a substantial improvement to the E861 – which is currently the
minimum wage.
Rijkenberg said the introduction of a minimum wage meant that those in the lower
ranks of the economy would have something extra to spend.
“This will allow what they get to circulate at least three or four times in
the economy – and government will get tax in that way.”