Cape Town - Data gathering company Code4SA has developed a new tool to help South Africans understand how their taxes are spent.
For taxpayers, the most anticipated part of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2016 Budget Speech was whether income tax would be increased or decreased.
Gordhan surprised South Africans in February by not hiking the personal income tax rate for 2016.
"But paying taxes is not just about you," says Code4SA, "it's also about the contribution that you make to keep the country running."
Code4SA is a civic organisation that promotes informed decision-making for positive social change. It has developed a Tax Clock to show people on a very personal level what their tax is being spent on.
"It shows users how much of their work day is spent working to pay tax and how much is spent working for themselves."
The clock calculates minute-by-minute the time you spend contributing to government services, such as education, health or national debt - and the time that you're working for yourself.
Code4SA director Adi Eyal says the Tax Clock is an opportunity for people to engage with the budget through the money they earn - and the tax they pay.
“The rationale behind the tool is essentially that we’re exploring how you take complex data and present it to people in a way that they can understand," he said.
“And so most people don’t understand the budget and how it affects them, but if we put it in terms of their own salaries, how long they work, it helps them understand that, for instance, we spend almost as much on interest repayments as we do on social services in this country.”
So, How much of you work day is spent contributing towards government services?