Municipal Business Tax

[AmithS]

I am sure most of you have seen this by now!!!!

So I am now supposed to (if they pass this) pay an extra tax for operating my fast food store in Pretoria CBD??????????

I just got this store to start breaking even recently then I got hit with the electricity increase and so on and so on....

What the hell is going on in this country even if this does not get passed how in the #### do you even come up with #### like this...

[AmithS]

just to add,

I already pay higher than normal rent, electricity, water, rates, etc... just because it is the Pretoria CBD as compared to other area's so in turn the municipality is already getting more than others and now they want even more????

Either tons more businesses close down adding to the governments employment targets of having more people unemployed or businesses slowly start moving out the main metros and eventually they will lose more income as the business activity in the main metros die off...

Generating more income is not the solution right now, they need to learn how to manage what they have properly first.....

[Dave A]

I am sure most of you have seen this by now!!!!

Not I.

Applicable to Pretoria CBD only?

[Justloadit]

Well the only other solution is to increase your selling price.
If every one is not making a profit, moving out of the city is not going to solve the problem, as the services are still required with in the CBD, so customers will have to pay more to get the same stuff.

[AmithS]

According to the article from the paper yesterday,

eThekwini, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni and Cape Town.

I was so upset just reading the article I forgot to even check exactly which ones.

[AmithS]

Hi Dave,

Check this link out,

http://www.iol.co.za/business/busine...ness-1.1129385

[wynn]

I've got an idea!
Why don't they get their house in order, get their corruption under control (EL has two of the three billion budget missing) stop paying councilors as if they were company directors (which they are not) ditch the perks councilors get cars and all, fire the useless expensive municipal staff who do nothing instead of the job they are paid for and collect all the outstanding property taxes Rbillions countrywide that is owed to every municipality then they won't have to screw the businessman again.

[daveob]

I've got an idea!
Why don't they get their house in order, get their corruption under control (EL has two of the three billion budget missing) stop paying councilors as if they were company directors (which they are not) ditch the perks councilors get cars and all, fire the useless expensive municipal staff who do nothing instead of the job they are paid for and collect all the outstanding property taxes Rbillions countrywide that is owed to every municipality then they won't have to screw the businessman again.

They are realists, not retards.

They know damn well that they stand a much better chance of getting the businesses to cough up. All that other stuff you mention is, well, just too hard or impossible to do.

[AndyD]

Yep,another in a long line of soft-target taxes.

[mother]

They are realists, not retards.

Are you absolutely 100% sure?

[Dave A]

I second Wynn

and Mother

If approved by the minister, the local tax on business will be the only tax instrument – besides property tax – municipalities have after the scrapping of regional service council levies in 2006.

Taxes on property, municipalities complain, are heavily constrained by the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department’s insistence on ensuring consistency nationally.

As a motivation that sounds really good, particularly if you don't mention all the other revenue streams of the metros.

At least they concede one of their great failings... Collection!

The tax, which metros were proposing be collected by the SA Revenue Service, could either be a tax on...

[Blurock]

With Government spending more and more, they had to think of new revenue streams. What did you expect? Who is paying for their lavish lifestyles?

[Dave A]

A pretty interesting article here - Gordhan condemns rates boycotts.

This is pretty much on the money -

He said given the fiscal constraints faced by the government, political and administrative leaders had to do more to cut down on "improper" procurement practices and on fraud and corruption.

"There is no doubt much more could be done in this area than is being done," he said.

The Treasury "looked forward" to working with the auditor general and accountant general on putting "more stringent requirements in place" and getting better co-operation from officials and political leaders to ensure that taxpayers and ratepayers money was not "frittered away" without proper justification.

Municipalities, he said, had to do more to ensure they took decisions that ensured better quality spending,

"Municipalities need to focus on delivering services, on building their capacity, on building economic infrastructure, on investing the right amount in capital infrastructure and on both maintenance on infrastructure and the development of new infrastructure."

They also had to "forget the frills" such as buying a "brand new Mercedes or anything else like that".

But I found this bit rather out of touch with reality -

He said many of the issues ratepayers had with their municipalities could be resolved "the South African way".

"We sit around the table, we say what our challenges are and we find practical solutions to them. Creating tension and antagonism doesn't help."

Ja, right!

[BusFact]

I'm with you on that. The comment about chatting to municipalities and resolving issues is pure fantasy. I challenge him to come along with me in an effort to chat to Joburg. After nearly a year, all I have is a still unresolved issue and an impressive collection of reference numbers from their call centre.

The municiplities have created the "tension and antagonism" themselves.

[Blurock]

The "tension and antagonism" stems from incompetence. So much money taxpayers is wasted on unnecessary court cases due to the incompetence or lack of ownership by municipal officials. It's a disgrace.