EDITORIAL: New tax resistance threat to fragile SA
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South Africans — illicit cigarette smugglers, the ANC Women’s League and a smattering of EFF populists aside — may have been united in their delight at moving to a less restrictive level 2 lockdown this week, but that’s probably where the sense of national unity ends.
One of the harshest lockdowns in the world may have helped avoid a ghastly crush on hospitals, but it has left traumatic financial and social scars — and a country divided like never before.
It has birthed an unhealthy sense of us and them: ordinary South Africans versus rapacious political elites. This was illuminated starkly at the funeral of ANC stalwart Andrew Mlangeni, where not only did the politicians casually break their own rules on the number of participants at a funeral, but soldiers were photographed smoking — at a time when cigarettes were banned.
The response was predictable. When the Daily Sun interviewed people at a vibrant social gathering in the middle of the Joburg CBD afterwards, with alcohol in plentiful supply, they deemed it an act of rebellion against government hypocrisy. As one participant said: "They tell us to observe Covid-19 regulations and ban tobacco and alcohol sales, yet they smoke, drink and gather at funerals with more than 50 people."
Thanks to the state’s handling of the lockdown, ours has become a country where the risk of rebellion has never been higher since democracy.
Last week, nonprofit Sakeliga released the finding of a new poll, in which 95% of respondents said the lockdown had reduced their willingness to pay tax. Six of 10 respondents said they’d even consider illegally withholding tax if it could end the lockdown quicker.
The social compact is precarious. As former SA Revenue Service executive Telita Snyckers wrote in the FM ( this week, the lockdown has given South Africans a "taste for insurgency — the danger of a tax revolt has never been greater".
It means, says Sakeliga CEO Piet le Roux, that businesses are becoming "unusually motivated to decrease their tax payments".
Le Roux’s argument — based on the poll — is that the corruption, mismanagement and harmful policies that accompanied the lockdown have created a "perfect storm" for tax morality in SA.
And it’s not just among individuals or small businesses. Le Roux says a senior executive at an "iconic" local company "considers paying tax in SA a possible violation of the American Foreign ...
One of the harshest lockdowns in the world may have helped avoid a ghastly crush on hospitals, but it has left traumatic financial and social scars — and a country divided like never before.
It has birthed an unhealthy sense of us and them: ordinary South Africans versus rapacious political elites. This was illuminated starkly at the funeral of ANC stalwart Andrew Mlangeni, where not only did the politicians casually break their own rules on the number of participants at a funeral, but soldiers were photographed smoking — at a time when cigarettes were banned.
The response was predictable. When the Daily Sun interviewed people at a vibrant social gathering in the middle of the Joburg CBD afterwards, with alcohol in plentiful supply, they deemed it an act of rebellion against government hypocrisy. As one participant said: "They tell us to observe Covid-19 regulations and ban tobacco and alcohol sales, yet they smoke, drink and gather at funerals with more than 50 people."
Thanks to the state’s handling of the lockdown, ours has become a country where the risk of rebellion has never been higher since democracy.
Last week, nonprofit Sakeliga released the finding of a new poll, in which 95% of respondents said the lockdown had reduced their willingness to pay tax. Six of 10 respondents said they’d even consider illegally withholding tax if it could end the lockdown quicker.
The social compact is precarious. As former SA Revenue Service executive Telita Snyckers wrote in the FM ( this week, the lockdown has given South Africans a "taste for insurgency — the danger of a tax revolt has never been greater".
It means, says Sakeliga CEO Piet le Roux, that businesses are becoming "unusually motivated to decrease their tax payments".
Le Roux’s argument — based on the poll — is that the corruption, mismanagement and harmful policies that accompanied the lockdown have created a "perfect storm" for tax morality in SA.
And it’s not just among individuals or small businesses. Le Roux says a senior executive at an "iconic" local company "considers paying tax in SA a possible violation of the American Foreign ...
