... sir, from the outset of the medium-term budget process, the DA has focused on one question, whether the proposals by the government help to advance fairness in our society. We understand that to govern is to choose. No government can have everything, or satisfy every want.
That is why this government is ethically obliged to make choices which are fair to the country and that means
choosing to prioritise the basic services on which the poor depend and choosing to emphasise investment over consumption.
And it means protecting the incomes of working families, over the ideology of out-of-touch policymakers.
The Bills before us today, Minister, contain a stealthy R12 billion effective tax increase for working families. This is done by failing to adjust tax brackets upwards for inflation.
This R12 billion in additional revenue comes straight from the pockets of every hardworking South African.
Is that fair? No, it is not fair. And it is not ethically defensible. The government has prioritised bailouts for zombie state-owned entities, and has prioritised the salaries of millionaire managers in the civil service, over the working families who are already struggling to get through the month.
These good, hardworking people have faced electricity increases, petrol tax increases, VAT increases, public transport increases, and school fee increases. Their jobs are less and less certain, and their wages have been growing slower than inflation, year after year.
These are the people who you are expecting to pay for this tax increase. These are the people paying more of their hard-earned wages every month to bailout SA Airways, SAA, and Eskom, and to keep millionaire managers in the sheltered comfort to which they have become far too accustomed.
Is that fair, hon members?
HON MEMBERS: No!