Drought tax plan angers

As the water situation grows more dire in Cape Town, a proposed drought tax has infuriated the city’s residents.

“As far as the residents are concerned, we are confused,” said Sandra Dickson of the Stop City of Cape Town Action Group (Stop CoCT).

“Local government lets all the tourists come, they give them no warnings about saving water, construction carried on right up to 15 December, and as far as we can make out some of the poorer areas don’t even know about the water restrictions, so information isn’t reaching people,” Dickson said.

With nearly 2 500 comments on dearcapetown.co.za, it is plain to see residents are angry.

The website was formed by Stop CoCT in response to the city’s proposed drought surcharge – based not on the amount of water a household consumes, but on the size of their property.

“The funds will help pay for the essential, yet expensive, projects to make new water available to help us get through the drought,” the munipality website says.

Not so fast, say Capetonians.

“National Govt should be made to cover these costs… I’m so tired of this govt asking us to save .. save money, save water, save petrol, save electricity … and when we do, we are rewarded by being charged more for less,” wrote Arlette.

Lavona wrote: “You [the City] are the biggest culprits when it comes to not taking this drought seriously, and you want to make us pay. ” Julius Kleynhans, portfolio manager for water at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), believed the proposed levy was illegal because it had been based solely on a council decision, with no gazetted notice for comment and no indication as to which laws allow the levy.

The levy is based on property values instead of water consumption, which means it is an additional punitive tax instead of a consumption charge, he said.

“The City does not have the right to initiate its own taxes on top of existing property rates,” said Kleynhans.

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