‘We’re already paying high taxes’: South Africans push back on grants demand

The call for a larger SASSA grant has reopened an old wound in South Africa: the feeling among working people that they already carry too much of the country’s financial burden.

On The South African’s Facebook page, many commenters supported older persons in principle but questioned how the country could pay for a major increase.

The cost question about the grants demand

Simm Vuzi put it plainly. “No offence but who’s footing that bill, we’re already paying high taxes as it is,” he wrote.

Franza von Horsten asked the same question in fewer words: “Where will all the money come from?”

Their concern is not about pensioners themselves. It is about the pressure on salaries, fuel, food and electricity that working households already face. Any sharp increase to the older person’s grant, currently R2 400 per month would require billions more in government spending.

Doubt over delivery

Others doubted the idea would ever move beyond social media. Steve Benton wrote: “Carry on dreaming.”

Fred Denysen added: “Wish upon a star.”

These comments reveal deep distrust in government’s ability to manage public money, even among those who sympathise with pensioners.

A different solution

Jacques Burger offered an alternative that shifts the focus from grants to tax. “If you retire after paying tax your whole working life you should be exempted from any further taxes,” he wrote.

His idea would help retirees living on private pensions and savings, who still pay tax on that income after decades of contributions.

The debate shows a country caught in the middle. South Africans want older persons to live with dignity, but many fear the bill will land, once again, on those still working.

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