Help the families of our cops

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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Just watched the news on E tv (prefer less censored news), and it showed a story of how when a cop is killed in action, the money that is paid out to their families is taxed.

This has to be one of the most disgusting taxs we have in this country. Its shameful and their is no justification for it. Personaly, I think that anyone who puts their life on the line for this country should be exempt from all taxation.

If you think the taxation of the monies paid out to the families is unfair, and you want to do something about it, please phoned E-TV on 0831222 to see how you can get more involved.
 
Thanks w1z4rd. This is something I think we can all get behind and actually maybe do something about it
 
I am looking for info on this. Etv said that John Robbie (from 702) had made a call to the public to do something to someone - i am looking up this something and someone now. Apparently SARS says that only Trevor Manuel can do something....??

Edit: From the Cape Times editorial today-

Support the police
July 21, 2006
By the Editor

The two policemen ambushed and killed in Langa this week were but the latest victims in an alarming increase in murders of police in South Africa in the first six months of the year.

Earlier this week, Commissioner of Police Jackie Selebi disclosed that 51 of his men had been shot and killed since January, compared to 33 who died in the first half of 2005.

His concern is certainly justified. In most parts of the world, criminals think twice before killing policemen. In Canada, for example, an average of two or three guardians of the law are murdered annually.

Police in South Africa, facing a huge upsurge of violent crime, are particularly at risk and deserve all the support that can be offered to them.

Safety seminars and training have been intensified and this should continue.

But more is needed. The murders of policemen are part of a much broader moral malaise in which contempt for the law and human life have taken hold. In this situation, police need to be made fully aware of their rights in the use of their firearms - they are surely entitled to shoot to kill if their own lives or the lives of citizens are in danger.

This does not mean a reversion to the licence of the apartheid era in which the relevant regulation gave the police very wide latitude, enabling them to use firearms recklessly with virtual impunity.

A significant proportion of police murders are cold-blooded killings of policemen in robbing them of their service pistols, as in Langa this week.

In fact, the plague of police killings is at its height in the crime-ridden townships and settlements. This alarming rise in police deaths is bound to intensify public fears that there is indeed a spirit of lawlessness afoot.

As one township resident said this week, if this can happen to police, what about us?

The urgent priority is to catch the killers. The police should be able to count on a steady flow of information from the public.

The old loathing of police informers in the apartheid years needs to give way to a spirit of community backing and co-operation with the police. This attitude will be furthered if the public perceives themselves to be in a community partnership with the police.

Risking their lives in the front line against crime, the police deserve all possible support.
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From 702 site:

Tax free compensation for families of policemen who die in the line of duty
The process to be followed if listeners are interested in helping John to lobby for tax free compensation for the families of policemen that have died in the line of duty. We have set up a special email address and fax line so that people can support the initiative.

Listeners to fax or e-mail support. Please put motivation and name, ID number, telephone number and Sign if possible.

Contact Details:
Taxbreak
P.O. Box 55702
Rivonia
2128

Fax: 086 500 8412

e-mail: [email protected]

Guest: Ernie Lai King
Organisation: Deneys Reitz
Position: Director and Head of Tax Services

Ernie Lai King, Director and Head of Tax Services at Deneys Reitz, has offered to help us. He will take it further with the authorities of we can demonstrate public support. We need your support to change the law. The easiest way to demonstrate your support is to go to www.702.co.za follow the link on the “Tax Break” box on the front page, and fill in the required information.
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Short email I sent in as support:

We support John Robbie's call for compensation to the families of policemen and women who have died on duty to be tax-free. In fact, we think all police who risk their lives for our country deserve a multitude of special tax breaks.
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To all forumites-

We are a very large group of people with various opinions and political beliefs. MyADSL is constantly buzzing with political talk, especially about crime in South Africa. We disagree a lot amongst ourselves about this issue, but one thing I think we can all agree on is that it is particularly heart-wrenching and tragic when policemen and women are murdered on duty.

The SA police put their lives on the line for us. Let me repeat that- these men and women are out there in the line of fire every single day, saying "send me into the fray, I will fight the crime firsthand, I will confront South Africa's hijackers, murderers, armed gangs and rapists, I will risk my life for you."

Too often these men and women are brutally murdered doing their job, which is protecting YOU. I think that the least we can do is get behind this initiative to STOP the taxman taking a portion of the compensation that is paid out to the families of murdered heroes.

I don't know how many people caught the etv news bulletin on Friday night, but if you did you would have seen the devastated familes that are left behind. There are children who must now grow up without a parent, not because that parent was an unfortunate victim of circumstance, but because they actually went out there to put their lifes on the line to protect others. Many of these families are struggling not only with the deaths of their loved ones, but many are now facing life without their main breadwinners. Some stand to lose their houses.

Is it really too much to ask you to get behind this initiative? It's a way to say that we care about these policemen and women, it's a way to say that we recognise that there are people who have CHOSEN to give their lives to protect US. Getting behind this shows that we value their contribution - their lives that they have given - to fighting violent crime in SA.

I really don't think it's too much to ask.
 
I support this initiative too, but would like to add that as a percentage, farming is still more dangerous than being a policeman (last time I checked). Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Why aren't we this vocal about tax breaks etc for farmers?
They dont protect us directly, but they sure as hell make sure we have food in our tummies, indirectly.
 
@Debbie2, I agree.
It should apply to any public service officer, whom works in hazardous circumstances, fire fighters, defence force, etc.
I actually want to include disaster relief volunteers too.....
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but any compensation arising out of a death benefit in the line of duty is a life insurance payout and should be tax free, unless the payee is deducting the payout from taxable income. In the case of the state, they cannot deduct from taxable income. Now why should the benefit be taxable? The state in this case is therefore self insuring and now recovers some of the benefit in the form of taxation. That is not only biased and unethical, but should be labeled criminal. Just because it is the state, does not give the state Godlike status. I think this practice should be reviewed in the light of the Constitution.
 
I agree with Werner.

While it is a shame that policemen are killed in the line of duty, it is something that they sign up for.

I believe that a compensation fund for civilian victims of crime is of much higher priority and is needed more urgently.
 
milano said:
I believe that a compensation fund for civilian victims of crime is of much higher priority and is needed more urgently.
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The DA has raised that point in parliament this week and my full support goes towards such a fund. We have a labour compensation fund, why not a “living in SA crime relief fund”.
Sorry, not meaning to distract from the main threat, but it is relevant.
 
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