Parliament's finance committees set to interrogate Godongwana's budget

CAPE TOWN - Parliament’s finance committees is on Friday set to begin interrogating the latest budget tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday. 

The chairpersons of these committees said at a briefing on Thursday that the contestation over a proposed value-added tax (VAT) hike over the last three months has overshadowed what should have been a discussion about government's spending priorities. 

Chairperson of the standing committee on finance, Joe Maswanganyi, said it was every citizen's duty to pay taxes, and the impression can’t be created that they can never be adjusted to fund government expenditure. 

On Wednesday, the finance minister reset the budget process by tabling a new fiscal framework and money bills, which contain reduced allocations for departments in a R2.5 trillion budget.

He swapped a VAT increase for a fuel levy hike, already an unpopular move for opposition parties. 

But Maswanganyi said paying taxes is unavoidable. 

“It would not be right that every time the state talks about increasing taxes we encourage protest. We are not going to run a state on populism.”

Chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts, Songezo Zibi, said the budget events of the last few months have, however, necessitated a debate over the powers of a finance minister to introduce tax hikes.

“The finance minister must bring proposals to parliament which are actionable, and parliament should also not use its power arbitrarily to arrive at outcomes which are detrimental.”

Parliament’s budget head, Dumisani Jantjies, said the legislature had a duty to probe the budget and is legally competent to make changes.

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