Stealth tax increases hit South Africa

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While much of the noise around the 2025 budget has been fixated on top-level taxes like the incoming VAT hike and frozen tax brackets, a host of smaller ‘stealth’ measures are kicking in from April.

Chief among these is a significant 24.2% hike to South Africa’s carbon tax, which crept through nearly undetected.

According to Nazrien Kader, Old Mutual’s group head of tax, the carbon tax hike was just one of many ‘small’ tax hikes that will continue to eat away at South African budgets this year.

Households will also have to contend with the above-inflation adjustments to alcoholic beverages and tobacco and increases to environmental levies like the plastic bag tax and incandescent lightbulb levy.

These tax hikes are expected to contribute an additional R1 billion to revenue for this year.

The increases will partly be offset by the additional zero rating of foodstuffs and the general fuel levy not being adjusted for inflation.

Kader said that in a smart move, no increase was announced for the Health Promotion levy, better known as the sugar tax.

An inflationary increase in the health promotion levy was due to take effect on 1 April 2025, but the Treasury now wants to cancel this increase to allow the sugar industry more time to restructure in response to regional competition.

However, Kader said that the true ‘stealth’ tax on South Africans is the National Treasury’s move to leave various inflation thresholds unchanged.

This “sleight of hand” move will see tax brackets unchanged in 2025/26, and medical aid tax credits also remaining frozen at previous levels.

By not adjusting medical tax credits, the National Treasury will add R1.5 billion to the pot, and bracket creep on income tax will see individual taxpayers raise an R18 billion for the government.

“Whilst South Africans may feel that they have partially dodged the 2%pt VAT bullet, individual taxpayers have been let down once again – left to carry the can with a real tax increase of R19.5 billion,” Kader said.

Stealth tax for companies

SARS and Treasury are reviewing the VAT exemptions for low-value goods imported into South Africa
It is not only consumers who will be hit by tax hikes that didn’t grab too many headlines.

Kader noted that despite the corporate tax rate remaining at 27%, the National Treasury still expects to collect more tax from companies through Global Minimum Tax measures.

This tax is a ‘top up’ tax will be payable by the ultimate holding companies of multi-national enterprises operating in South Africa.

The measure forms part of the Global Minimum Tax Act and Global Minimum Tax Administration Act which was signed into law in 2024 and implementation backdated to 1 January 2024.

The laws are based on the OECD Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules, which were designed to protect countries from possible tax losses due to multinational enterprises operating in tax havens.

The tax is expected to raise additional tax revenues of R8 billion per annum from the 2026/27 fiscal year.

For importers of ‘low-value’ goods like Temu and Shein, Treasury has also indicated that the VAT exemption on these imports will be reviewed to ensure tax parity when goods are purchased online and imported.

According to consultancy PwC, this will hopefully seek to address concerns raised by the local retail sector
relating to imports through offshore online platforms and level the playing fields.

Source: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/816981/stealth-tax-increases-hit-south-africa/