Apart from hikes of sin taxes, no other tax increases were announced in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget speech on Wednesday.
Government’s fiscal position has also improved since last year, mostly due to tax revenues exceeding expectations by a mammoth R181 billion.
Watch/read: Finance minister delivers the Budget 2022 speech
Here are the highlights:
Fiscal framework:
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/14 | 2024/25 | |
| Total revenue | R1 721bn | R1 770bn | R1 853bn | R1 978bn |
| Total expenditure | R2 077bn | R2 157bn | R2 176bn | R2 289bn |
| Budget deficit | -5.7% | -6% | -4.8% | -4.2% |
| Debt as percentage of GDP | 70% | 73% | 74% | 75% |
| Debt service costs | R268bn | R301bn | R335bn | R363bn |
Government expects to achieve a primary surplus – where revenue exceeds non-interest expenditure – by 2023/24.
| Economic outlook | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| GDP growth | 4.8% | 2.1% | 1.6% | 1.7% |
| Consumer price inflation (CPI) | 4.5% | 4.8% | 4.4% | 4.5% |
Tax proposals
- No increases of income tax, Vat or fuel or Road Accident Fund levies
- Companies tax (tax rate will be reduced from 28% to 27% next year)
- You will only pay income tax if you earn more than R91 250 a year
Read: Some breathing space for battle fatigued taxpayers
Sin taxes
Excise duties on alcohol and tobacco will increase by between 4.5% and 6%.
| Increase in duty | |
| Can of beer (340ml) | 11c |
| Bottle of wine | 17c |
| Bottle of sparkling wine | 76c |
| Bottle of whiskey (any spirits) | R4.83 |
| Pack of 20 cigarettes | R1.03 |
| Cigars (23g) | R6.77 |
Grants
| Grant | Rand amount | Increase |
| Old age | R1985 | 5% |
| Old age, over 75 | R2005 | 5% |
| War veterans | R2005 | 5% |
| Disability | R1985 | 5% |
| Foster care | R1070 | 1.9% |
| Care dependency | R1985 | 5% |
| Child support | R480 | 4.3% |
Government allocates an average of 59.4% of consolidated spending to the social wage over the medium term, to address poverty and unemployment and to support the economic recovery.
Spending programmes
Total consolidated government spending will amount to R6.62 trillion over the next three years, and the social wage will take up 59.4% of total non-interest spending over this period.
The bulk of the spending is allocated to learning and culture (R1.3 trillion), social development (R1 trillion) and debt-service costs (R1 trillion) over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.
Government has provisionally set aside R17.5 billion over the three-year Medium Term Expenditure Framework period for infrastructure catalytic projects.
The controversial e-toll system on the Gauteng Highway Improvement Project was not mentioned and appears here to stay, for now.
Read: More than R308bn allocated to bailing out failing SOEs
COMMENTS 2
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Economic outlook 2021 2022 2023 2024
GDP growth 4.8% 2.1% 1.6% 1.7%
Consumer price inflation (CPI) 4.5% 4.8% 4.4% 4.5%
The real problem in a nutshell !!
No real growth and a stagnant/pessimistic outlook !!
178
When they give GDP growth, is that not real GDP growth??? Otherwise – eish
I always thought our problem was population grows faster than real GDP, now that is even worse
30
End of comments.