How much tax you'll pay in SA based on what you earn
This is how much tax South African residents will pay based on their income, following Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s latest budget.
On Wednesday, 21 May, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled his third budget for 2025 after two failed attempts.
He was forced to deliver this latest budget speech in Cape Town after earlier proposals were blocked due to disagreements within the ruling coalition.
As with previous versions, stealth taxes remain a key feature of the new budget.
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The National Treasury has once again decided not to adjust personal income tax brackets for inflation.
This means that as people receive modest salary increases to keep up with the rising cost of living, they may be pushed into higher tax brackets, resulting in higher tax payments.
This phenomenon, known as "bracket creep," leads to taxpayers paying more without any official increase in tax rates.
Although the government hasn't changed income tax rates, it is collecting more revenue by not accounting for inflation in the tax system—a practice referred to as "stealth taxes".
Initially, Treasury expected to collect R18 billion through these measures, but following the latest budget revision, this figure has been reduced to R15.5 billion.
Godongwana acknowledged that the current measures are not enough to close the funding gap. He warned that the 2026 Budget will need to introduce new tax proposals to raise an estimated R20 billion.
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At the same time, Treasury is boosting the capacity of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to improve tax collection and enforcement.
"We have allocated an additional R7.5 billion over the MTEF to increase the effectiveness of the South African Revenue Service in collecting more revenue," said Godongwana.
"Part of this allocation will be used to increase collections from debts owed to the fiscus. SARS has indicated that this could raise between R20 billion and R50 billion in additional revenue per year."
Here is the 2025 Income Tax Table for Individuals and Trusts:
Source: BusinessTech
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Image: SARS