REDUCE GOVT’S RUNNING COSTS

Sir,

Thank you for allowing me space in your newspaper to share my views with the citizens of the Kingdom of Eswatini.
I am writing this letter because of the budget speech that was presented in Parliament recently, where the issue of taxes was announced. I must state that there are a lot of things that need to be addressed regarding the taxes due to the fact that they are going to affect a lot of people in this country.

The people are going to suffer a lot especially because at the moment the economy is down yet there are many challenges including unemployment. I do understand that government is trying to revive the economy but I still think there is a need to consider a lot of things before hiking taxes. In light of the proposed increase of percentage proposed regarding the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) on the over R250 000 per annum workers, I would like to leave a few comments regarding this matter.

The proposed increase is too much to implement at a go because it will significantly affect a majority of the workers in a number of ways.
Firstly, there is a need to take in to consideration the home or car lease contracts entered into previously using the 33 per cent tax calculation because this could mean that many households will not be able to fullfil these liabilities, resulting in the loss of a home or vehicle. 

Increases

This would be bad because both homes and vehicles are important for all citizens. The second issue is the proposed 15 per cent VAT on electricity and R1.20/litre fuel hike which I feel will further compound expenses for all households. These increases immediately translate to food and transport hikes and the poor emaSwati feel the pinch.

Thirdly, I would like to state that instead of taxing the nation to the bone, government should look into reducing its own running costs.  It can do this by reducing delegations that go on trips out of the country to a bare minimum plus selling equipment and vehicles that are not being used or that are being abused.  It is a fact that so much money is spent on things that the country can do without.

For international trips, government should tighten the screws and not allow people who are not needed for those particular conferences or workshops.
A cost-cutting exercise within government would reduce their overheads and would not have to impact the workers of Swaziland.
As citizens of this country, we are all determined to achieve Vision 2022 but we need to be careful and ensure that all our efforts do not translate to economic depression for workers and the nation at large.

Louise Young
                               

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: