South Africa's RAF and general fuel levies require urgent review

mylesillidge

mylesillidge

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South Africa must say goodbye to petrol taxes

The taxes added to fuel prices in South Africa urgently require review, with the Road Accident Fund facing heavy scrutiny and the general fuel levy not being used for its intended purpose.

Driving.co.za managing director, Rob Handfield-Jones, told MyBroadband that he believes these taxes should be scrapped.
 
they can introduce a 0.5% wealth tax for trusts and individuals with assets over 50mil and probably cover the fuel tax, rather than taking money directly out of economy activity. Tax the people who are taking money out of the economy.

Fuel taxes are like trade tariffs, you just punish people for being productive.
 
"I have a feeling that it might be politically sensitive, which might account for the Minister’s decision to finalise it only in 2027,” Handfield-Jones said."

My guy, if there ever was a can that'll never reach a destination it's this one.

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Sapphiron said:
they can introduce a 0.5% wealth tax for trusts and individuals with assets over 50mil and probably cover the fuel tax, rather than taking money directly out of economy activity. Tax the people who are taking money out of the economy.

Fuel taxes are like trade tariffs, you just punish people for being productive.
Click to expand...
SA gets R132.3 billion from fuel levies per year. Wealth tax won't cover that. And if it does, those people will take their entire wealth out of the SA economy.
 
Reinstate etolls but make it country wide. /s

The problem is that motorist will avoid getting third party insurance or pay tax. Fuel is such a convenient method because it is tough to game it, and it reasonable correlates with your use of the road.

But obviously won't work with electric vehicles on the way. This is going to become really tricky. Maybe a general electricity levy on households that consume more than say 600kWh per month?

None of the solutions are great unfortunately.

(and for all those people that say "I will get my own insurance or I already have my own medical aid.That is categorically not true. Third-party insurance is mostly for material things not injury and your medical aid will actually claim back from RAF. If RAF stop existing your medical aid premium will shoot up by a lot. And once you cover injury via third - party commercial insurance you are not going to get the low premium you think you will get)
 
Johand said:
Reinstate etolls but make it country wide. /s

The problem is that motorist will avoid getting third party insurance or pay tax. Fuel is such a convenient method because it is tough to game it, and it reasonable correlates with your use of the road.

But obviously won't work with electric vehicles on the way. This is going to become really tricky. Maybe a general electricity levy on households that consume more than say 600kWh per month?

None of the solutions are great unfortunately.

(and for all those people that say "I will get my own insurance or I already have my own medical aid.That is categorically not true. Third-party insurance is mostly for material things not injury and your medical aid will actually claim back from RAF. If RAF stop existing your medical aid premium will shoot up by a lot. And once you cover injury via third - party commercial insurance you are not going to get the low premium you think you will get)
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On that last point: the trick is getting the corruption and gaming out of the existing systems: what % of RAF goes to corruption and legal fees as opposed where it is supposed to go?
 
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