GPSA Weekly Views

Trevor time again! And the man had no sympathy at all with us smokers and drinkers.

The quick and dirty of his budget speech is this -

Cigarettes up by 52c a packet of twenty. Other tobacco products up by between 7 and 15%. Beer up by 11c a 750ml bottle and 5c a can. Forified wine up by 23c with natural wines up by 18c. Spirits up by R1,47 a 750ml bottle.

Car allowances for cars over R360 000 will be curbed drastically with a new 10c levy on all fuel per liter.

The good news is that people earning less than R35 000 per annum will get tax exemption. Medical aid taxes will be reduced with taxes on properties under R330 000 worth to be reduced by R2 300.

Pensioners and their spouses will get an increased tax relief with corporate taxes coming down from 30 to 29%. Small businesses will also benefit from tax relief.

Pensioners are getting a R40 increase (R780). Big deal. Child support grants have gone up by R10 only (from R170 to R180) per month. Okay, the average tax payer cannot support families with an average of 5 kids (of which there's plenty). Single mothers don't get nothing!

Half of our fuel price is going towards government levies. Now this can pee me off! Corruption an mal-administration in the road accident fund is the direct cause of this. There is a huge backlog in third party pay-outs so Trevor thought this a good idea to raise the additional R950 million through additional levies. Milking those necessities? For sure, how else can this country afford all our ministerial millionaires?

And nothing was mentioned on HIV/Aids. Not a word, not a stutter, nothing. These programmes will receive R185 million this coming year. That includes community care programmes. Social spending has increased by 14% for the new year. Land restitution has received a R6,5 billion grant. R6,9 billion has been allocated to improving salaries of the police, teachers and social workers. Unfortunately nurses were left out of the equation.

The Star (Feb 24 2005) used this example - after taxes and deductions a black family has an income of R5 527 per month. The family of four pay R1 150 for medical aid. Husband earns R3 027 after taxes and deductions, his wife brings home R2 500. Their house installment is R1 778 per month with transport (fuel alone for their own car, due to our "absolutely brilliant"public transport system) costing R 900 per month. School fees are a R100 per child with an additional R200 for transport. Water and lights come to R300 per month with a food bill of R2 100. You do the maths and what happens with Trevors' big idea of saving money? With just over a hundred Rand left every month for this family, there's no luxuries. And to think their expenses is 50% more than what I expect to save on tax deductions the coming year.

Everything needs to be put in the proper light though. I "wish" to be paying R300 on water & electricity (more like three times that much). My 30 year old house (which I bought 10 years ago) cost me the same on bond repayments, excluding the compulsary insurance. My medical aid deduction is well over R2000 per month, never mind the levies - and there's only three of us. I drive a four year old car which cost me over a grand in perks tax. Never mind my daily travels to work which is in excess of 100 kilometers a day. That's about 60 liters of fuel a week. We won't go into insurance or the "luxury" of having a retirement and funeral policy. And then of course, the only "luxury" I was able to afford is being taxed to death every year - cigarettes and alcohol. Some people have the means (support groups, medication, etc.) to help with nicotiene and / or alcohol addiction, but what about the millions of poorer black people who find these as the only means of relaxing and socialising?

Maybe give it all up for some extra sex? Give your honest contribution to the country's already burgeoning population? According to our previous health minister (Zume herself) black people have sex to ammuse themselves. Thanks Trevor for your contribution.

Weekly View
	24 February 2005
Trevor time again! And the man had no sympathy at all with us smokers and drinkers. The quick and dirty of his budget speech is this - Cigarettes up by 52c a packet of twenty. Other tobacco products up by between 7 and 15%. Beer up by 11c a 750ml bottle and 5c a can. Forified wine up by 23c with natural wines up by 18c. Spirits up by R1,47 a 750ml bottle. Car allowances for cars over R360 000 will be curbed drastically with a new 10c levy on all fuel per liter. The good news is that people earning less than R35 000 per annum will get tax exemption. Medical aid taxes will be reduced with taxes on properties under R330 000 worth to be reduced by R2 300. Pensioners and their spouses will get an increased tax relief with corporate taxes coming down from 30 to 29%. Small businesses will also benefit from tax relief. Pensioners are getting a R40 increase (R780). Big deal. Child support grants have gone up by R10 only (from R170 to R180) per month. Okay, the average tax payer cannot support families with an average of 5 kids (of which there's plenty). Single mothers don't get nothing! Half of our fuel price is going towards government levies. Now this can pee me off! Corruption an mal-administration in the road accident fund is the direct cause of this. There is a huge backlog in third party pay-outs so Trevor thought this a good idea to raise the additional R950 million through additional levies. Milking those necessities? For sure, how else can this country afford all our ministerial millionaires? And nothing was mentioned on HIV/Aids. Not a word, not a stutter, nothing. These programmes will receive R185 million this coming year. That includes community care programmes. Social spending has increased by 14% for the new year. Land restitution has received a R6,5 billion grant. R6,9 billion has been allocated to improving salaries of the police, teachers and social workers. Unfortunately nurses were left out of the equation. The Star (Feb 24 2005) used this example - after taxes and deductions a black family has an income of R5 527 per month. The family of four pay R1 150 for medical aid. Husband earns R3 027 after taxes and deductions, his wife brings home R2 500. Their house installment is R1 778 per month with transport (fuel alone for their own car, due to our "absolutely brilliant"public transport system) costing R 900 per month. School fees are a R100 per child with an additional R200 for transport. Water and lights come to R300 per month with a food bill of R2 100. You do the maths and what happens with Trevors' big idea of saving money? With just over a hundred Rand left every month for this family, there's no luxuries. And to think their expenses is 50% more than what I expect to save on tax deductions the coming year. Everything needs to be put in the proper light though. I "wish" to be paying R300 on water & electricity (more like three times that much). My 30 year old house (which I bought 10 years ago) cost me the same on bond repayments, excluding the compulsary insurance. My medical aid deduction is well over R2000 per month, never mind the levies - and there's only three of us. I drive a four year old car which cost me over a grand in perks tax. Never mind my daily travels to work which is in excess of 100 kilometers a day. That's about 60 liters of fuel a week. We won't go into insurance or the "luxury" of having a retirement and funeral policy. And then of course, the only "luxury" I was able to afford is being taxed to death every year - cigarettes and alcohol. Some people have the means (support groups, medication, etc.) to help with nicotiene and / or alcohol addiction, but what about the millions of poorer black people who find these as the only means of relaxing and socialising? Maybe give it all up for some extra sex? Give your honest contribution to the country's already burgeoning population? According to our previous health minister (Zume herself) black people have sex to ammuse themselves. Thanks Trevor for your contribution.	Past Views Current Joke Past jokes Gallery Links Current Exchange Rate Daily News Headlines
	FastCounter by bCentral