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‘Govt faces difficult task in convincing citizens to pay wealth tax during COVID-19’

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Political analyst Sanusha Naidu says it would be difficult for government to convince South Africans to pay the wealth tax during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the corruption that’s being committed during this time.

A number of prominent people have been linked to corruption related to the procurement of personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

The newly-released Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index highlights how corruption has impacted the ability of countries around the world, including South Africa, to manage their health care responses to the pandemic.

South Africa has barely shifted its position, coming in once again with a score of 44 and a rank of 69, alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Jamaica, Romania and Tunisia.

Naidu says corruption remains a huge problem.

“We are sitting in a very precarious situation in South Africa, with the question of what has been happening to our COVID-19 PPE funding, the resources, corruption and tender fraud. Also in terms of State Capture, I think this is where it’s going be very difficult to sell something like this to the public. But again, it’s the mechanics of it,” explains Naidu

The video below, looks at the possibility of whether a wealth tax can reduce poverty and COVID-19 costs:

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