JOHANNESBURG - South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has high hopes that legalising the marijuana industry can help plug the nation’s yawning revenue shortfall.
Tweeting from his farm in Magoebaskloof in the northeastern Limpopo province on Sunday, Mboweni said he urgently needed to raise more tax and decriminalizing cannabis could help accomplish that goal.
Mboweni is due to outline plans to contain spending and bolster income in his annual budget speech on Feb. 26. Power shortages have constrained growth, and as a result the National Treasury is confronting a 52.5 billion rand ($3.53 billion) revenue shortfall for the year through March.
Mboweni previously tweeted that legalizing marijuana could add more than 4 billion rand to the economy. The finance minister also uses his feed to comment on economic policy and give cooking tips to his more than 507,000 followers.
undefinedWhile South Africa’s Constitutional Court legalized the private use and cultivation of marijuana in 2018, it remains illegal to buy and sell it.
Take a look at what some people had to say to the minister below:
It’s quite easy getting more tax. Quit sidelining the people who do pay Tax, quit with the land reform, and you will have a larger tax base.
— mapQta⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Marita_1010) February 3, 2020
I’m starting to get worried about you, you want more, but do little..
undefinedundefinedThen only comrades will get the license to sell and plant it? Good idea though if only the system is going to be fair and change the life of the poor. pic.twitter.com/9F8zusFbYk
— #BlackExcellence™🌍 (@Sakhi_Afrika) February 3, 2020