Budget expected to unveil critical tax, economic policy changes

With the 2025 National Budget Speech just a day away, critical tax and economic policy changes will soon be unveiled.

Experts believe that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will announce a raft of tax adjustments including value-added tax (VAT), personal income tax and corporate to cover the revenue shortfall.

Minister Godogwana will deliver the budget speech at Parliamnet in Cape Town.

National Treasury says the budget allocation aims to strike a balance between growing the economy and supporting the vulnerable.

The South African Institute For Taxation says Godongwana has an intricate balancing act as he does not have much room for further tax increases.

He’s expected to provide for the country’s socio-economic safety net.

Meanwhile, South Africans have called on the Finance Minister to focus on various issues.

“Food, petrol prices, transport costs for the people that actually want to start a business and stir-up this economy; he should look at things like that. So instead of doing budgets on regulation and stuff like that, he should look at the budget in terms of pumping money into empowering those people.”

“I think that the budget should go to ways to finding how we can get other students to register, not all of us qualify for NSFAS. Also, I think we should look at the factor of water in Johannesburg, we have not had sufficient water in the area. Sometimes we have been bathing with cold water and getting water with buckets.”

“I think the issue of the water crisis is becoming a big challenge. If we could focus on that it will assist a lot. Even now with these heavy rains, I mean most of the roads are not in good condition, you know, it also needs to be fixed as well.”

“I think the Finance Minister should focus on creating jobs because the young people are not working and when there is that rate of unemployment, the crime rate goes up.”