Latest news with #JoeMaswanganyi
Eyewitness News
23-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
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. ALSO READ: SCOPA chair Zibi says time to get budget process back on track
Eyewitness News
22-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Govt's debt service costs must be renegotiated, says chair of Parliament's finance committee
CAPE TOWN - The chairperson of Parliament's standing committee on finance, Joe Maswanganyi, believes the government's debt service costs must be renegotiated. The country spends R1.2 billion a day paying off its debt. With the Finance Minister backtracking on a value-added tax (VAT) increase to fund the 2025 national budget, this will widen the deficit and increase public debt. Responding to the second tabling of a national budget on Wednesday, Maswanganyi said at a parliamentary briefing on Thursday that he believes the third version is credible, pro-poor and pragmatic.
Eyewitness News
30-04-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Parly finance committee chair doesn't fear not being able to pass national budget within prescribed time limit
CAPE TOWN - Chairperson of Parliament's standing committee on finance says he doesn't fear not being able to pass a national budget within the legally prescribed time limit. Joe Maswanganyi expects the finance minister to table a new budget before the end of May as the clock ticks down on the four-month deadline following the start of a new financial year. On Wednesday, Treasury is expected to provide details on how it expects the new budget process to unfold. Parliament has had to put its budget calendar on ice following the withdrawal of the Division of Revenue and Appropriation Bills that were tabled in March. As it now prepares for budget number 3, Maswanganyi is not concerned that the process is having to start from scratch. READ: Treasury set to brief media on budget process following VAT reversal 'We are still within time, it will be a problem if it's beyond the end of July. We believe if the minister can table the budget now, in May, the budget will be adopted before the end of July.' Should the process take longer than four months since the start of the financial year, the finance minister will only be able to spend up to a third of the previous year's budget. Maswanganyi cancelled Wednesday's meeting of the committee, which was due to get its first briefing on the new tax bill the minister introduced to Parliament last week aimed at reversing his proposal to hike the value-added tax (VAT) rate. Maswanganyi said his committee will wait for a new fiscal framework to be tabled first to ensure the new tax bill is aligned.
