What will our government try to tax next?

You’ve got to be ever so embarrassed when your country is on a taxing spree and still hasn’t gotten to the Lebanese levels of creativity (they tried to tax WhatsApp once).

What’s strange is that our government seemingly wants more and more but we’re getting less. There’s a reason people have turned to solar and why people are using private refuse removal. When it was the duty of the governmental institution, they were pretty terrible at providing. Should we be punished further for that inadequacy?

Thankfully, the courts in Gauteng thought not but what does it say for the authority to even try? It’s pretty arrogant.

“Hey, we’re not delivering. Give us more money so we cannot deliver some more, but better.” Even the English of it doesn’t make sense.

ALSO READ: Homeowners caught in solar registration grey zone

At the same time, we’re dealing with a bunch of corruption issues and while those implicated are laughing at the selected fall guy, they have the guts to think: “Hmmmm a city cleaning levy sounds like a good idea.”

Well, it’s not a good idea. You’re supposed to keep the city clean. It’s part of your job. Rates and taxes are there for that and making use of the municipal services is what the public pays for.

Take a moment to consider all the various taxes from fuel to VAT to income and if you’re still holding on to your JSE shares after this tariff debacle, you’re paying tax you didn’t even know about on your dividends before the money reaches you.

Sure, that goes to national and has different allocations but still, all that and the government can’t even pick up the trash properly? That this is being proposed in different municipalities is an indication that there’s a national discussion afoot and non-service clearly seems to be a national problem.

So why can’t they get the job done with the money they already have? Are things getting more expensive? Sure. We all feel that, but where we have to tighten our belts, those tasked with doing the job of budgeting, accountability and administration – otherwise known as governance – get away with putting on whatever fat they want and passing the costs onto ratepayers.

That is quite a ridiculous notion so it’s awesome that the court gave it the ridicule it deserved.

ALSO READ: Court rules against City of Tshwane’s cleaning levy

It’s easy to let these little things slip by as they creep up. What’s a couple of hundred here and there? Thing is, for a country with exceptional unemployment and awful economic stagnation, a hundred bucks here is already a lot to ask for. Here and there will be debilitating to most.

And government can argue it’s targeting the people who buy houses in Cape Town for R150 million but then it needs to admit an even more embarrassing truth: the people who spend the big bucks on municipal rates can’t even get the services they’re paying for and need to fork out more on both tax and private service. C’mon.

I know it’s not a popular thing to be nice to the rich guys, but I don’t think any municipal administrator will be satisfied if they order a bottle of Hennessy and are presented with a quarter full open bottle of Old Brown Sherry with lipstick marks on the tip, then told to pay an extra bottle kissing fee.

ALSO READ: Court declares Joburg’s non-sectional title refuse charge tariff unlawful

This is exactly why subsidies, redistribution and ideals of transformation have to be strategically managed. Of course richer people take on more of the burden for the betterment of society, at least financially. That makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is when you exclude them from that benefit by not offering the services that they pay for.

You can’t then be surprised when they opt out of the system. So, the government can’t say it didn’t see this coming. All it can say is that it was not prepared and had a hyperinflated sense of ego in this stupid game of chicken, expecting its public to just go along with its last-minute contingency.