As government including cities and municipalities gets bigger and bigger and fatter and fatter, it needs more money. To satisfy its insatiable appetite for money, it increases rates, taxes, water charges, electricity charges, and as it adds new taxes like carbon taxes, fuel surcharges, levies on flights, levies on electricity, toll roads, etc. And all these at much higher than inflation, eg inflation at 5%, electricity increases at 25%, supposedly to pay for new power stations, but actually to pay bigger salaries and bonuses to staff.
As workers and businesses have less and less of the money they earn they will seek alternatives like working from home.
All "clerical" people like accountants, lawyers, software developers, call centre staff, etc, i.e. everyone except plumbers, electricians, doctors, maintenance people and others who have to go on site to fix or repair things or people, can work from home or from local office centres to which people can walk.
This will have a massive impact on the IT, TV and Communications industries which will have a dramatic increase in revenues. At the same time as this, car companies, road repair companies, oil companies, city services, and some CBD building owners, will see a decline in revenues and will eventually become irrelevant.
This is as it should be and is the only way that we can recover from this recession which is being caused by massive structural change and uncontrolled government and central bank borrowing. Only business and private people can combat this. The age of government control is almost over. Governments will again serve their people. The balance will be righted.
This letter appeared in Tabletalk.
ReplyDeleteI didn't put up the e-tolling ANC signs, but I can understand them.
ReplyDeleteThese roads were built when there was half the population. The planners planned the roads to last decades and therefore studied population growth to see how big the roads should be. The roads were paid for and maintained and they still serve the current population. Why should we pay for them again? And with twice the population one would think there is more than enough money in the system to pay for the roads.
I can understand tolling a new highway or a new bridge or tunnel. Even though I can't understand it because 30 years ago the country had the money to pay for it no problem. But in South Africa the govt wants to tax existing roads, and the tax will hit the poorest person the hardest, and all the people are appealing to reason. in other countries the tolls are on new roads and bridges.
In Cape Town the national govt owns the highways and they want to toll them. This will cause an unacceptable burden to move to the provincial roads, which will then cause an unnecessary tax on the province. More money for central govt. More pain and hardship for the taxpayer!
Part of the reason: 30 years ago only 14% of the income of the government went to salaries and administration. In South Africa it is now closer to 35% and they want more - and hence because so much money is going into salaries (33%) and administration (2%), there is no money for the things the taxes are meant to pay for. And at around 40% the French Revolution happens. Do we really want or need this?
So the money is there. More tax is being collected today than ever before. But it is just not going back into making the country better. It is going to salaries and these salaries are going to buy expensive German cars and other luxuries, so the profits are going overseas whilst the people starve.
And the same problem is happening in Italy, Greece, Spain, the USA and other places.