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Fin24 user Mike Wormleighton writes:
Dear Mr Gordhan,
Setting our goals for this year and in reality the next
decade, they have to be:
1. Increase job availability.
2. Increase tax revenues to allow good spending on infrastructure that is sorely needed in the country as a whole and in particular for the poor and underprivileged.
3. Reduce crime.
In all honesty these goals are not separate nor difficult to
realise.
One simple measure would secure the means to grow the
economy and provide success in achieving all of the above goals.
Simply put, give personal tax relief on the interest portion
of mortgage bonds paid within a given tax year.
This would create a greater amount of disposable income for
most families who are involved in buying their own property and give incentive
to do so in the case of people who have not yet bought their own property.
The extra disposable income in our society would be spent in
both the building industry and home improvement industries,, and this would
increase spending in just about all of the associated industries.
This would increase demand and therefore job opportunities.
The tax lost through the rebate would soon be made up with
the increased amount of VAT received by the government, and also by the income
tax from the increased employment this would generate.
This is not new!
It is a system that was used in the 1950s in Post World
War II Britain to get the ravaged infrastructure rebuilt, and also to get the
economy moving after six years of war and austerity.
Though there is no comparison between WW2 and current South
Africa, there are a lot of similar needs and in reality what worked in post war
Britain could and should work in dear old SA.
Trusting that you will give this suggestion some
consideration and hopefully be able to achieve President Zuma's declared desire
to generate five million new jobs.
Best regards,
Mike Wormleighton
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* Visit our 2013 Budget section for full coverage of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's National Budget speech.
