DA to introduce a private members bill to initiate corruption tax

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will soon introduce a private members bill to initiate a corruption tax. It says the bill will introduce provisions that will require companies implicated in corruption to pay additional tax.
The party’s spokesperson on Finance Dion George was speaking during the tabling of what the DA calls the alternative budget. He says the idea follows the relative ease with which companies that aided and abated state capture got off without any accountability.
‘We know that there are companies who have been implicated in corruption in SA. And that has extremely been bad for our country and for every citizen. So people that have suffered from it should get some benefit from it. Where a company for example is guilty of corruption, charge them extra tax. And I think if you hit people in the pocket they will think twice before they do it again,” says George.
The DA says government should use some of the extra R120 billion in tax income to among others improve social relief for people. The party says while this is a once-off and government cannot make long-term plans on it, it should be used to help the poorest people who face terrible hardship.
“I do agree that a portion of it should be spent on social relief of distress because we do need to support vulnerable people. In terms of reducing the debt of paying off debt we know how high the debt levels are. The DA’s view is that we should be reducing debt. I do think it is also important that we should look at infrastructure especially those enablers of economic growth,” George added.