The ANC’s alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP, have welcomed the postponement of the Budget Speech, maintaining their steadfast rejection of increasing value-added tax from 15% to 17%.
The Budget, which was supposed to be presented in the National Assembly on Wednesday, was postponed at the 11th hour due to disagreements in Cabinet over hiking VAT and what its implications were on the government fiscus and normal South Africans.
Cosatu told Inside Politics that it was strongly opposed to any potential increase, warning that it would deepen financial hardships for workers already struggling with high living costs.
Cosatu spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the rescheduling of the Budget Speech to March was an opportunity for the government to reconsider its approach.
She emphasised that a VAT hike was unaffordable and would place a severe burden on workers, calling on the government to instead adopt revenue-generating measures that did not target
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