Fedusa seeks budget focus on educ

"We welcome the announcement that South Africa's tax revenue had  recovered following the 2008 global financial crisis, growing at 6.8 percent between 2008/09 and 2012/13," Fedusa general secretary Dennis George said in a statement.

   

"This is indeed positive news... however, company income tax collections had not yet recovered to pre-crisis levels, as this is mainly due to the reduction in the contribution by the mining sector."

   

According to the 2013 Tax Statistics publication, tabled by the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and National Treasury on Monday, Sars collected R813.8 billion in revenue last year. This was R71.2bn more than during the 2011/12 fiscal year.

  

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is scheduled to deliver his MTBPS in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

   

George said it was important for Gordhan to link future planning  to the National Development Plan and provide support for growing the economy to focus on job creation.

   

"It is essential for the minister of finance... to prioritise spending and to direct resources to improving education, training and innovation, which are one of the key pillars of the NDP," he said.

   

"The salaries of these public servants have lagged the salaries of their private sector counterparts. We need to reverse the brain-drain from the education sector."

   

Fedusa believed it was time to establish a tax for people who earned more than R1.5 million a year.

   

"This additional tax revenue will generate additional resources to narrow the deficit and to reduce inequality and poverty," said George.

   

"This proposal was prompted due to the very high executive package and bonuses that are paid to those at the top, also known as the super rich."

   

-Sapa