{"id":97078,"date":"2025-04-14T17:53:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97078"},"modified":"2025-04-14T17:53:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:53:35","slug":"vat-hike-opposition-grows-as-budget-day-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/vat-hike-opposition-grows-as-budget-day-nears\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT Hike Opposition Grows as Budget Day Nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n14 April 2025 | 16:57 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

Cosatu protests against VAT increase in Cape Town ahead of the tabling of the Budget Speech on March 12, 2025. Image Credits : X@_cosatu<\/p><\/div>\n

Mounting pressure from political parties and social partners is placing Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana under increasing scrutiny, as government faces fierce resistance over a proposed VAT hike ahead of the national budget announcement.<\/p>\n

Treasury\u2019s attempt to plug a staggering R250 billion deficit by raising Value Added Tax is being met with unified opposition. In an interview with Radio Islam International<\/a>, Cosatu\u2019s Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks, says the federation “would welcome” a decision to scrap the proposal, warning of its devastating effects on the working class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t support a VAT hike or any other tax hikes which hurt the working class,\u201d Parks asserted. \u201cPeople are drowning in debt, they\u2019re struggling with the rising cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parks revealed that Cosatu had raised concerns early on with both the ANC and the executive. \u201cWe\u2019ve called for the scrapping of this VAT hike since the beginning of February. Most workers are already supporting unemployed family members. A hike would only make life more difficult for millions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of burdening consumers further, Cosatu has proposed viable alternatives to Parliament and Treasury\u2014proposals they believe could generate \u201ceven more\u201d revenue without imposing additional pain on citizens. \u201cYes, it\u2019s messy,\u201d Parks admitted, \u201cbut we would prefer messiness over inflicting pain upon ordinary South Africans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federation’s position reflects broader sentiment. \u201cSociety has reached a limit,\u201d said Parks, pointing to a decade of economic strain, state capture and corruption scandals. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to hear about further tax increases. They want to see the state fixing its spending habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

With just weeks to go before the budget takes effect, the ANC faces a mounting dilemma: proceed with a deeply unpopular tax increase, or take a new route that reflects the country\u2019s dire socio-economic reality.<\/p>\n

As consultations continue, one thing is clear\u2014South Africans are calling not just for fiscal solutions, but for a government that listens.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and Mathhew Parks here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 14 April 2025 | 16:57 CAT Mounting pressure from political parties and social partners is placing Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana under increasing scrutiny, as government faces fierce resistance over a proposed VAT hike ahead of the national budget announcement. Treasury\u2019s attempt to plug a staggering R250 billion deficit by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":97079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Cosatu.jpg?fit=756%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pfM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 09:10:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}