The African National Congress has thrown its support of ActionSA's proposal to remove the 0.5% VAT increase, giving taxpayers some much-needed breathing room.

The party proposed an amendment to the fiscal framework to remove the VAT and income tax increases for 2025/2026 during parliament's joint committee on finance debate on Tuesday.

It said all that remains is for South Africans to observe which political parties acted to protect their already strained household income and which parties saw them as collateral damage in political manoeuvring.

ActionSA's Alan Beesley confirmed that the parties met on Sunday to discuss the 2025/26 national budget.

"The talks centred around ensuring that the budget protects South Africans from excessive tax, worsening pressures and the decline in service delivery.

"Recognising the imperfect nature of the budget and the crisis that the Government of National Unity partners themselves have created with uncertainty around the country’s fiscal framework— which will have disastrous consequences if an impasse continues — ActionSA set aside a long list of budget reforms in exchange for its conditional support of the budget’s passage, with strict conditions," Beesley said.

Conditions

"We have put forward viable alternatives to cover the revenue gap, which we have done to show that protecting South Africans from unnecessary tax hikes is both possible and necessary without political grandstanding," he said.

Impasse

The Democratic Alliance has dug in its heels regarding the proposed budget.

In a social media post on X, DA leader John Steenhuisen , said "Time is almost up. Last night, the ANC refused to finalise an agreement on growth and spending reforms, imperilling the GNU. The DA will oppose the budget unless and until a written agreement is reached," following a meeting between high ranking party officials on Monday night.

seanne.rall@iol.co.za

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