Finance Minister Mboweni gave his Medium Term Budget Policy
Statement (MTBPS) on 30 October 2019. "Rather than
giving taxpayers the comfort that was sought, there is widespread
frustration and indignation following this presentation," says
Patricia Williams, tax partner at Bowmans.
The revised tax revenue targets for the current year, 2019/2020,
and subsequent two financial years, reflect a cumulative downward
adjustment of R251.2 billion. In spite of this, budgeted
expenditure is anticipated to exceed 2018/2019 expenditure by
R191.3 billion in 2019/2020, by R325.9 billion in
2020/2021, by R444.7 billion in 2021/2022, and by
R562.1 billion in 2022/2023. "Minister Mboweni has
correctly identified the problem," says Williams, "when
he said, 'Our problem is that we spend more than we earn.
It is as simple as that.' However, the financial projections
demonstrate that Minister Mboweni is not addressing this
problem."
