The North West Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the country’s tax system needs to be reviewed.
The Chamber’s call follows the recent two consecutive substantial fuel price hikes. At the start of last month, petrol prices were hiked by R1,25 per litre while diesel was pushed up by R1,48 per litre.
This month, the petrol price has increased by 75 cents per litre while diesel has gone up by 72 cents per litre.
The new fuel adjustment. #PetrolPrice pic.twitter.com/FnC9I7QH2T
— Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (@DMRE_ZA) December 1, 2021
The Chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Andre Coetzee says: “I personally think that petrol has become a tax haven for the national government because of all the grants that we have to pay people. South Africa is becoming a wealthiest state and we cannot keep this up…and I cannot understand that in Namibia they pay much less per litre and even in Botswana, their petrol comes from South Africa, so something is very wrong. They should revisit the whole tax system.”
Reflecting on previous and possible future increases with Tshepo Mongoai:
Impact on agriculture
Meanwhile, Executive Director for AgriSA, Christo van der Rheede, says the fuel price hike will have a negative impact on the agricultural sector and ultimately, food prices will increase.
‘Agriculture is already facing huge increases in the price of herbicide and fertiliser packaging. We also have experienced price increasing early this year in terms of the national maximum wage and electricity. All these costs will be passed to consumers and yes it will contribute to a rise in inflation,” adds Van der Rheede.
In the video below, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Wayne Duvenage, talks about the impact of the recent fuel hikes on consumers and commuters:
