Budget Speech 2026: DA expectations

After last year’s budget showdown over a proposed value-added tax increase, the Democratic Alliance (DA) says it's expecting less drama when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables the 2026 budget in Parliament on Wednesday.

But the party said it wants to see adjustments in personal income tax brackets and rebates in line with inflation.

Delivering the medium-term budget policy statement last November, Godongwana announced that the inflation target would be fixed at three percent, with a one percentage point tolerance band.

DA finance spokesperson, Mark Burke, said the country can't afford another year of stealth taxes or explicit increases.

While it's not expected that the finance minister will face the same pushback he did last year when he made political history after three attempts to table a national budget.

The DA said it does not expect there will be any personal income tax or corporate tax hikes, and most definitely no VAT increase.

Burke said he wants to see taxes reduced, rather than raised.

"The Finance Minister also needs to better use tax policy to support the financial health of South Africans through much overdue increases in contribution thresholds, as well as looking at the requirements associated with data tax administration for small and emerging businesses."

Burke said his party remains concerned by the mushrooming debt of state-owned companies and ongoing loan guarantees.

He also wants Godongwana to update Parliament on departmental spending reviews and the clampdown on ghost workers.