Why should I pay my taxes in South Africa? I derive no benefit!?

Question

Its abundantly clear to me that I derive absolutely no benefit of any kind from the thousands of Rands I pay annually in the form of income taxes.
Why should I pay when I still need to pay Chubb to provide me with security which I believed at a point was the job of the South African Police SERVICE.
I still need to pay toll fees (excessive) to drive on our highways which are 3rd world at best.
The potholes in the roads in my neighbourhood never get repaired or get repaired and re-appear within 2 days.
I need to pay Discovery Health to provide me with medical care in the event of illness.
My children need to go to private schools due to the complete lack of any kind of quality education at a government institution, that and the fact that I would love my children to be able o read and write by matric.
Why did I subsidise SASOL for years only to derive no benefit?
Honest answers please, should I cheat my taxes?

Innocentia - Your mother definitely wont pay taxes this year. The threshhold is now R45 000 per annum before one is obligated to pay taxes, thats about R3 750 per month. I just wish the government would intoduce more benefits for people in that threshold.

Answer 1

It's clear that all South Africans agree on this.
One would expect this: Country with most violent crime + most heavily taxed country = huge expansion of police force + building many new prisons.
Neither of these happen. If anything the police force was REDUCED last year by closing down two of the most SUCCESSFUL units. It has often been proposed to use prison labour to build new prisons, but the anc feels that would violate the rights of the murderers and rapists. They are, after all, anc voters in the next election...
The general argument is that tax from the "rich" (middle class by Western standards) have to go to the poor. I doubt whether the poor see much of that money after the whole beaurocracy, all the way from the pres and his R90 million wall to the 22 year old anc mayor of your town with his new Merc, has taken their cut.
These anc idiots won't listen to any constructive, logical and sensible arguments. The only hope for SA is to fire them at the next election on grounds of incompetence.

Answer 2

I'm must agree with you a bit.We are one of the Highest tax paying countries in the world and i must say that the governments service delivery is a bit sloppy.From this years budget speech i at least expected a decrease in tax rates, because in previous years the government has been receiving billions of Rands more than they had expected from Income taxes.

Answer 3

Don't think it would be wise for anyone to advise you on cheating or evading tax. You should make that decision on your own as you will face the consequences on your own.

Tax is high even in the Western countries, fortunately for them, they reap the fruits of their labour. We don't even get an ounce of what we pay for. All the services that we pay for in taxes, we get them from paying private companies as you have mentioned. So if we had a better system we wouldn't even be thinking of evading tax. One can simply not disclose their earnings or revenue, and thus cheat the system. Though facing the consequences wouldn't be nice, with the state of the prisons.

Or we could just Walk Out of Prison like the other prisoners do... Mmmm...

See you in prison!!!!

Answer 4

finally!!! someone who saw the light... what outrages me the most Raging bull, is the fact that i seem to be paying taxes and getting nothing out of it. I heard that people earning R3000 and below (like my mom), will not have to pay tax anymore... that makes me happy (if its true). But what sickens me is that the infrastructure in some places is still appalling and you have young women queuing every month getting our money to support their children and spoil themselves when half of us work so hard, and all they do is pop babies without jobs to their names because our taxes will cover them... that's really infuriating!!!!
As for cheating them, please don't... we don't want you going to prison because people are thick headed... we'll miss your Q and A's here on Yahoo...

Answer 5

I have asked myself the very same question, and i find myself having to do some serious creative accounting to at least retain some of my hard earned money.

My answer to your question is do what you have to do.