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Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has argued that the Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, should not have the power to make a decision about tax, without proper parliamentary consultation.
This is the argument of the EFF’s legal counsel Advocate Mfesane Ka-Siboto, in the Cape Town High Court.
The party is challenging Godongwana’s ability to determine the fuel levy – saying the Minister has too much power and it should be a decision that Parliament makes.
Ka-Siboto says they are disputing the constitutionality of the legal provisions that allow the executive to unilaterally increase taxes or bypass parliamentary oversight.
“But our curtailment and our safeguard to the concern your Lordship is raising is informed and it is based on the idea that you cannot tax without representation. And in due course I’ll go to the submissions and the case law in that respect. The bottom line is this, 48.2 allows the minister to tax without representation. So taxation without representation is not just a buzz phrase, it’s a principle and a policy,” adds Ka-Siboto.
EFF contests minister’s fuel levy authority: Bobby Ramagwede weighs in
