Showing posts with label taxi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxi. Show all posts

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Taxes explained ... (SA Government take note)

This is perhaps the best way ever to explain our taxes...

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to R100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay R1.

The sixth would pay R3.

The seventh would pay R7.

The eighth would pay R12.

The ninth would pay R18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay R59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by R20." Drinks for the ten now cost just R80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men, the paying customers?

How would they divide the R20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that R20 divided by six is R3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid R2 instead of R3 (33% savings).

The seventh now pay R5 instead of R7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid R9 instead of R12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid R14 instead of R18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid R49 instead of R59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before and the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a Rand out of the R20, "declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got R10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a Rand, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get R10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, don't protect them against crime like in South Africa, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND, NO EXPLANATION IS NEEDED.

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND, NO EXPLANATION WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE!!

Monday, January 28, 2008

SARS Tax returns - today could be your deadline!

While those who submit their tax returns manually had to do so some time ago, those of us who chose to submit via the SARS e-Filing, web-based mechanism have until 31 January to so do. However, if you have not completed your registration for the service, you had better do so today! Once you have registered it takes 48 hours to be vetted and activated. That leaves you with one day to comply. So don't be caught out, register today!
For more information click here : SARS E-Filing


Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Cape Town & Western Cape making things happen ... finally

So it's slow and sometimes tedious, but things are starting to happen here in Cape Town (no, I will not refer to it as Slaapstad!)
With any initiative of appreciable size hampered by political infighting, the punishment meted out to the voters for giving sparring parties control of provincial and local governments, it's a big deal when something comes to fruition. Yesterday we had two such initiatives not launched, discussed by committees, thrashed out in the courts or even being appealed but actually become in to being.

The first is what is known as the B&T lane on the N2, one of the main arterials into the city. As of yesterday, the right-hand lane of the three lane highway is reserved for buses and taxi's only during the morning rush hour. While currently raising the ire of many motorists, as this has obviously added some serious travel time to those commuters not using public transport, I must commend the provincial politicians for taking the 'hard road' and implementing this idea. Here in Cape Town we constantly complain the lack of public transport. This is sure to give those providing the service extra a shot int the arm, as well as convincing more people to use the public transport providers to get to work.



The second initiative seems to have come along more quietly, and emanates from the City of Cape Town. Yesterday I received a big clear plastic bag and a pamphlet outlining the new recycling program in my letterbox. As of next week we will be able to place a full bag of recyclables with our usual rubbish and it will be taken, sorted and recycled. If successful this is going to make a huge difference to our landfill sites. Many people have been kept from recycling as it's been a hassle having to cart off your recyclables to a depot. I am personally looking forward to getting a large portion of my garage back.

Now, let's get those housing projects moving!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Now you can Moer a taxi - Seriaas!

Everyone has a beef with taxi drivers. There are so many times when you just want to get out the car and let him (or her) 'have it,' whatever your version of 'have it' may be. But you know that it's probably not a very wise thing to do.

Now you can. Go to http://www.ilogic.co.za/taxi-wars.html and you can hoot your vuvuzela, smash the taxi with a golf club and use spray paint on the taxi along with a few other ways to vent your frustration.
I had to chuckle when I heard the response of the chairman of one of the Cape Town taxi associations on the radio yesterday. He was 'appalled' that such a violent game could be played online and was concerned that this could lead to real violence being perpetrated against taxi drivers. Please buddy,how do think a viral marketing company came up with the idea? I'm pretty sure that if all your drivers stuck to the speed limit (how fast you are allowed to go on the road and remain within the law), indicated when stopping and/or turning (using the little stick that used to be on the side of the steering wheel to activate the little orange lights that warn motorist of the impending action) and kept to the correct lanes (left of a yellow line is not actually the taxi lane), their brainstorming session would have led to a whole different creation. Furthermore, trust me, if we could we would have done this to your taxis a long time ago. Playing this game will not suddenly make us stupid enough risk our lives and trying to do something similar in the real world.

Eish!!

Note : The game is actually meant as a viral marketing campaign, but hey, maybe it's going to land up providing an important public service.

Update : Mzala @ Township vibe posted the following re: Taxi Wars : Website incite violence against the taxi men . Tried to leave the following comment unsuccessfully (the site was misbehaving)
Hey Mzala, you serious?
The moment I see someone blowing a vuvuzela at their unfriendly taxi driver, I will repeal both this comment & what I posted about the site a few days ago.
Eishman

Hopefully they get to read this somehow.