SCOPA chair Zibi says time to get budget process back on track
CAPE TOWN - Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) Songezo Zibi says it's time to get the budget process back on track after a value-added tax (VAT) debacle that has derailed two previous attempts to table a budget for the country. In his latest iteration of the budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has opted to lift a three-year freeze on increasing the fuel levy instead of raising the standard tax rate. Zibi said the budget debate has become about taxation rather than the realities of spending cuts to key departments such as health and education to fund the R2.5 trillion budget.
"The debate around the budget is supposed to be about the order of those priorities - and whether these allocations are sufficient, or to be spent in an efficient manner. We never got the chance to have that discussion. I hope that now there will be an opportunity to do so."
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