‘Graduate tax’ should pay for free education: Universities SA

[Kerrits]

Supposedly Australia has a similar model. Education is free, but then you pay graduate tax afterwards. From what I've heard, the tax falls away after you paid your due.

Effectively a study loan administered by their equavelent of SARS. That actually makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[3WA]

It would be much easier to get support for this if government had a reputation for handling taxes responsibly.

 

[skimread]

Now it makes sense all these ANC politicians studied at non-name distance educational institutions from London or US. They'll claim they won't have to pay.

 

[P924]

So basically the model they propose would make the people that had to pay for their education, pay for those that would receive it for free...

 

[krycor]

this will only work if graduates paying are those who got free education.. else gov can pay back my fees with interest.

 

[karnuffel]

So I wroked my butt off while studying to try and keep my study loan to a minimum... At one stage I wanted to quit but I pushed through because I knew I woud have to repay the debt at silly interest rates. Then I started working and I spent almost half of my monthly salary for almost 2 years on paying back that study loan as quick as possible. Now that I am finally free of that loan some clown wants me to make "some contribution to the fees of those coming after them"...

Nee boetie dit werk nie vir my nie.

 

[CamiKaze]

Now it makes sense all these ANC politicians studied at non-name distance educational institutions from London or US. They'll claim they won't have to pay.

Interesting. Makes sense.

So basically the model they propose would make the people that had to pay for their education, pay for those that would receive it for free...

+1

 

[BandwidthAddict]

Let's say this is implemented. The first thing will be mass exodus of existing graduates with means. Then the remainder will struggle under the load and fall apart. So any graduate that can will leave the country.

There was this other place that implemented policies that depended on people of means being forced to support those without. People of means didn't like those policies so they started leaving in droves. The authorities answer was to put up walls and make it illegal/treason to try and leave. Those that didn't die in the attempt and were caught, were sent to a very bad place to exist in pain and die slowly. Why? You know, compassion for The People.

We live in the wheel of time. All that was old is new again.

 

[TheChamp]

Supposedly Australia has a similar model. Education is free, but then you pay graduate tax afterwards. From what I've heard, the tax falls away after you paid your due.

Effectively a study loan administered by their equavelent of SARS. That actually makes a lot of sense to me.

NSFAS works exactly the same, the problem is the recouping of the money from the graduates that seems to be the problem, graduates are simply not paying back the loans and government can't seem to be bothered enough to make means to recoup back that money.

 

[skimread]

Only way for them to implement it, is to force employers to deduct it from employees salary slips. It then might be worthwhile to quit your job and apply for new one but lying on your CV saying you didn't get a degree. Would that be fraud? Imagine years later you get caught out and fired for lying on your resume.

 

[R13...]

NSFAS works exactly the same, the problem is the recouping of the money from the graduates that seems to be the problem, graduates are simply not paying back the loans and government can't seem to be bothered enough to make means to recoup back that money.

I thought as soon as SARS see you on the tax register, the NSFAS recoup begins?

 

[AlmightyBender]

This actually makes sense and would work wonderfully if the following conditions apply:
If you receive a free education you pay the tax
If you pay for your own education you do not pay the tax

In this way the grads paying for their own education are left in exactly the same position as they are now and those who are not able to pay for their own education as a student (i.e. the vast majority of school leavers) can defer payment to when they are earning an income. Society is better off.

 

[konfab]

I thought as soon as SARS see you on the tax register, the NSFAS recoup begins?

No.

I had to contact them to tell them I was ready to pay back my loan, which indicates that they are not actually interested in getting the money back.

 

[skimread]

Th real issue here is the fact that South Africa's economy is not growing but the population, unemployed and the number of social grant recipients are growing.

If South Africa's population grows by 750K thousands per year but the economy grows 0% then there is less for everyone to take. Don't expect everyone to pay their bills like municipal bills, other taxes and loans. Now you want to introduce new taxes like e-tolls, healthcare and graduate taxes. No way people going to pay that. ANC is not pressing the collection agencies either. They say they can't force the so called poor to pay. If they do then they get strikes and they lose local elections. You end up with a stalemate.

So we all end up playing this game while the country goes into more debt without the real problem, the corrupt government, being acknowledged what they have done. It will take 20 years to undo the damage the have done. Things were so promising at the start but devolved into rampant cronyism, corruption and incompetence.

 

[TheChamp]

I thought as soon as SARS see you on the tax register, the NSFAS recoup begins?

If you are unlucky perhaps, for thousands others this is not the case. NSFAS said it themselves some time ago that the amount of unpaid loans runs into millions.

Personally I had to consult NSFAS and arrange payment, I know people who are still waiting to be hunted down by SARS or NSFAS before they start to pay.

 

[krycor]

I know people who are still waiting to be hunted down by SARS or NSFAS before they start to pay.

This is the problem with society in Sa currently.. people will do illegal things, use and abuse till they need to appear in court.

 

[ellyally]

Hmmm, majority of graduates from recent years are still unemployed. Economy continues to shrink and unemployment continues to rise. So, we'll be taxing a employed graduates to add more graduates to the unemployment pool. Lets start building skyscrapers from top down and see how that works out

 

[TheChamp]

Civil servants owe millions for study loans

More than 3 000 Eastern Cape government employees owe the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) more than R60-million in unpaid study loans.

According to the NSFAS, the 3 138 debtors work in various government departments across the province and owe the scheme just over R61-million.

NSFAS spokesman Kagisho Mamabolo said, in total, 24 470 former students from the Eastern Cape accounted for R750-million of the staggering R6.1-billion owed nationally as of March last year.

If government and SARS were really serious this is wher they would start, how difficult can it be to recover money from people who work for you?

http://www.heraldlive.co.za/civil-servants-owe-millions-study-loans/

 

[TheChamp]

NSFAS threatens to blacklist non-payers

NSFAS chairperson Sizwe Nxasana says they will follow a debt recovery process for former students who are unwilling to pay and are earning an income.
Nxasana says they are owed R21 billion in loans and of that they have recovered over R200 million. He says recovery will be based on the salary earned.

Really there is lots of money to fund future generations, 21 billion!!!

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/66f9fa004b64bbe6a89dee43e5868fd4/NSFAS-threatens-to-blacklist-non-payers-20162101

 

[furpile]

So 400 000 graduates are already defaulting on debt payments, and they want to tax them even more to pay for the next bunch of unemployable clowns? Because that is what the majority of graduates are becoming. Quality of education is dropping rapidly at school level, or was anyway, I don't think it can drop further. This has an obvious impact on the quality of tertiary education. Now you have hundreds of thousands of graduates, with no hope of employment, because the economy is in shambles, or they are not worth employing. But they need to pay more taxes? Good plan.