Are you the lucky recipient of a grant or a subsidy? You may not be aware of it but your grant was not funded by the government. No, it was funded by the single most unappreciated group in South Africa, the tax payer.

We already have Workers’ Day. The “worker” in this case only refers to the unionised blue collar worker who seems to have reached sainthood in this country despite the continuous strikes and low productivity.

The tax payer is the real engine of this country and as such should be appreciated and honoured. Without them we are all screwed. For this reason I (the author of this blog article) decided to honour the tax payer by announcing June of every year as Tax Payer Appreciation month.

By whose authority you may ask? By the highest authority in the country: The Private Citizen and Tax Payer.

How Many Tax Payers Do We Have?

In 2010/11, approximately 4, 7 million people had to submit tax returns but that does not mean that 4, 7 million people paid tax.
Approximately 2, 9 million people paid close to 99% of all income tax. But 1, 9 million of them were responsible for roughly 92% of all income tax collected in 2010/11. Many of these people pay more than half of their income to tax.

Source: http://www.mises.co.za/2012/03/how-many-taxpayers-are-there-really/

Some May Argue That Companies Also Pay Tax

“South Africa’s companies pay the second highest effective tax rate among the biggest 60 economies in the world” (2009/2010 tax statistics data from National Treasury).

Source: http://led.co.za/story/2012/01/26/high-taxes-burden-sas-economy

In reality, it is the owners of these companies who pay the tax.
More than 16 million people in South Africa are beneficiaries of social grants and this figure will continue to rise putting increasing pressure on the tax payer.

South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world but who is to blame for this?
It’s not the unemployed, or the wealthy that are to blame, but those who squander and steal our tax money.

So, if you’re a tax payer, be proud about you massive contribution. If you are only a recipient of tax money, say after me:  “Tax payers of South Africa, praise to yee!”

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