EASE TAX BURDEN ON CITIZENS

Sir,

For those who subscribe to the Christian faith I want to quote Isaiah 9: 6; “For unto us a child is born, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace; upon whose shoulders the governments of the world rest; and whose kingdom shall have no end.”

Having said this, I am reminded that our government is also on His shoulders. Citizens of the world in their different countries are wallowing under the burden of taxation. And the interesting thing is that tax competitiveness speaks volumes about attractiveness of foreign direct investment and of course the welfare of the working class.

Plea

That said, I am left with nothing much to say about us as a country; except to make a plea to our government to look at easing the tax burden to help citizens earn a decent living. Government should be looking at ways of easing the tax burden instead of looking for more sources of revenue. While we are inclined to support the fact that taxes must be collected to bankroll social programmes in the country; what some of us are averse to is the fact that when the fiscus is not balanced, citizens are called upon to make up the difference; by loading them with taxation.

Languishing

I mean this nation is languishing as we speak; from the burden of VAT that has brought virtually all services to the taxation net; and that is a huge change; as every entity is expected to charge the 14 per cent levy, making virtually everything costly.
A number of people have complained about the country’s tax regime, including corporate citizens; and it seems to me government needs to start thinking about how to make the tax burden lighter for citizens and prospective FDI candidates.

Pressure

And another way of doing this is by reducing pressure on the fiscus by rightsizing the civil service. And to continue on this path; government needs to think seriously about its ambitious efforts of setting up a number of parastatals that have mushroomed in recent years as a result of the Constitution, opting to create departments to perform those functions or services rather than setting up fully-fledged parastatals.

B Dlamini

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