However bad Tax Commissioner Tom Moyane had been at his
job did he really deserve to have the presidential letter which suspended him
released to the media? It was pretty blunt and damming and not something you’d
like your children to read about you. But then take a look at the very simple
monthly data releases of how much money SARS has been collecting of late and it’s
clear that the fellow has not been keeping a firm grip on his departmental
duties. Annual growth in tax revenue is running at an average of just 4.5%pa,
down from over 11%pa two years ago. Of course, this is not all Tom’s fault. His
bosses in Cabinet have been steadily crushing the life out of the nation’s productive
economy and there just isn’t the same amount of value sloshing about that can
be purloined by any tax man. And this doesn’t even mention the popular
assertion that so called “tax morality” (another oxymoron?) is on the wane.
The fiscal year comes to an end in a week’s time and the
National Treasury’s data release a month later is a popular time for analysis
and jaw flapping. Unless an intense commitment to austerity has flooded the public
service this month, it seems certain that government expenditure in Fiscal 2018
will be a record setting 19% greater than income. Not only are the socialist
policy chickens coming home to roost, some have already dropped off the perch. And the saddest part of it all is that we have
little to show for all this money. More people than ever are on the social
grant lists. The ones who do notionally work for the taxpayer are largely dispirited,
uninterested and ineffective.
And the nauseating do-goodery ratchets up with yet more legislation
about smoking, drinking and lending money all of which will make people’s lives
harder and less fun. Undoubtedly there are dangers everywhere in life but the only
way to help people cope with them is through knowledge and education that
informs and supports personal responsibility and choice. Again, we ask why
booze outlets need to be at least 500m distant from churches and schools. Insisting
that smokers satisfy their habit out of sight of every other living soul is
silly. Rather than prowling the land with tape measures and smoke detectors
government should focus on offering everyone the educational opportunities to
be able to do the sums and read the warnings for themselves. In the meantime, the costly multi-coloured
self-congratulatory booklet from SANRAL – the guardians of our (really very
good) national road system – barely mentions the terrible road accidents that
claim dozens of lives each week. These together with the appallingly savage murderous
attacks on farmers are the tasks that need urgent and meaningful state
intervention. Both South Africans and foreigners are becoming increasingly
scared by the growing threat of violent death in this beautiful land. Not by seeing
a bottle store from a school gate or a smoker in the street.
It’s really quite touching. A Johannesburg court ruled
that the Guptas must bring their nice sleek jet plane back to Lanseria and then
hand over the keys until one or two little matters are solved. Like money owing.
Surely the Guptas by now have all but erased South Africa from their diaries
and memories. They will have blocked all calls from country code 27, obtained new
email addresses and are now looking for another corrupt and tin-pot regime to infiltrate.
Friends, creditors, employees and anyone who believed that enjoyed a special
relationship with these confidence tricksters must all becoming quickly aware
that they were merely supporting cast members in a Bollywood thriller set in South
Africa. The sole task remaining from this shameful and embarrassing hijacking
of our country is the research and revelation of what happened. Oh, and paying
for JZ’s legal team.
It’s Boat Race weekend. Formula 1 season starts with the
cars now dolled up with a so called “halo”,
which is an ominously named device further to protect drivers from the dangers
they accepted when they decided to try and make very large sums of money. And Test cricket in Newlands where the new
technique is to bring the sports administrators into play in order to deal with
the opponents. The Six Nations matches in Europe last weekend and the
performance of the NZ sides in the Super 15 suggest that it may be a difficult
year for South African rugby supporters.
James
Greener
Friday 23rd
Match 2018
