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What's The Issue?

What's The Issue?

Author: Tomas Yoko
Date: 2014-07-04
Voluntary taxation, that is what Gatcha Buthelezi alluded to when he made his speech at the opening of Sibaya Casino. I was intrigued, who would ever volunteer for such a thing? But there are many who would, or so it seems.

The recent drive to bring the Urban Improvement Project to the North Coast town of Ballito has split the business community and sent some property owners in search of their passports.

In my estimation, if ever there was voluntary taxation it would be this crazy idea presented by what in known as UIP. Get this, how it works is through the rates system, so according to the value of your property, extra rates will be applied to your municipal bill and hey presto we have voluntary taxation.

What this implies is that the municipality is either not capable of doing what we are already paying them to do, or not willing to do what they are being paid to do. After Jacob Zuma mentioned the iLembe district municipality, showering praise on their achievements in expenditure on municipal infrastructure and service delivery, it would seem that that is not the case, rather exactly the opposite.

Listening to the mayoral comments of late there is a positive impetus towards municipal spending in the area. So with the looming rates evaluation and the mammoth amount of infrastructure expenditure that is happening in Ballito at the moment, it seems a little premature to be fast tracking this UIP form of voluntary taxation. For many property owners the added cost will be passed on to their tenants, making the cost of doing business in the town of Ballito that much more expensive than it already is.

Oh and of course there is the security aspect that UIP guarantees, or no sorry no guarantees here, wrong word, maybe assures is better.

Once the voting has gone through then there is no turning back and whether you votes yes or no you will be liable for the rates. Coming off the back of what is being disclosed as a positive outcome in Umhlanga, the ramrod looks like it is out and you had better open wide.

Further afield Vladimir Putin has accused the US of using the world as their military barracks and Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko refuses to renew the cease fire agreement with the pro Russian rebels, not good. But even worse is the death toll of over two thousand four hundred people in Iraq in June alone. Then as if to throw salt in the wound the three bodies of the four Israeli boys seem to have sparked the bombing of 34 sites in Gaza.

The region is a tinder keg with the fuse burning fast. The whole world should be praying for sanity to prevail and for leadership to for once take the lives of the people into account and not the bank accounts of corporate energy and banking giants.

But then pigs would fly and politicians would be God fearing up-standing members of society.