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Budget 2020 brings both relief and disappointment
FRIDAY, 28 FEBRUARY, 2020 I For immediate release
The Salvation Army has expressed its relief that the VAT rate has not been increased in this week’s Budget, but at the same time said it is disappointed at the relatively small increases in dependency grants.
The Salvation Army’s PR Secretary, Major Carin Holmes, said: “While an increase of R80 in old age, disability, war veterans and care dependency grants hovers around the current rate of inflation, it is off such a low base that it will make very little difference to the recipients. The recipients are amongst the most vulnerable in our society. Similarly with the child support grant.
“Government would have done better to take a much stronger line with some of the SOEs that are draining the fiscus and posing serious risks to the fiscal framework, in the Minister’s words. It is high time that the government did more than just ask questions such as, in his own words, ‘do we still need these enterprises? If we do, can we manage them better? If we don’t need them, what should we do?’ There isn’t time merely to ask questions; action has to be taken against these fiscal drains,” Major Holmes said.
She also expressed regret that tax on sorghum beer was not increased. “In a context where other so called sin taxes are increased, why single out sorghum beer for an exemption? Is this a move merely to protect votes among such beer drinkers? The abuse of sorghum beer is no less destructive than that of other forms of alcohol,” she added.
Nevertheless, The Salvation Army is pleased at the reductions in the public wage sector bill, and at moves to strengthen the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute corruption offenders that were announced in the Budget.
The Salvation Army is an international movement and evangelical part of the universal Christian Church and has a professional record in rehabilitating and accommodating trafficking trade victims and addressing social injustice in a systematic, measured, proactive and Christian manner through its International Social Justice Commission.
ISSUED BY QUO VADIS COMMUNICATIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SALVATION ARMY
Media Contact: Ruth Coggin
Quo Vadis Communications
Tel: 011-487-0026
Cell: 082-903-5819
CLICK HERE to e-mail Ruth Coggin
Client Contact: Major Carin Holmes
Public Relations Secretary
Tel: 011-718-6745
Cell: 082-994-4351
CLICK HERE to e-mail Carin Holmes