Tax proposal is withdrawn

THE withdrawal of a tax proposal that would have saved South African taxpayers about R15 billion may lead to slight narrowing of the budget deficit. The proposal to reduce the threshold against which contributions to the nation’s Unemployment Insurance Fund were calculated would not be implemented as it could lead to “unintended consequences,” the Finance Ministry said last week. This removes a concession to taxpayers that raised the personal income tax rate for the first time in more than two decades. – Bloomberg