10 things you need to know about the budget

23 February 2024

This year’s budget didn’t bring clear-cut good or bad news. It placated rather than drawing lines in the sand.

Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Finance, said on Wednesday that the tax proposals for 2024 are expected to bring in an additional R15 billion for state coffers. Here’s what South Africans can expect.

The good news – remains unchanged:

1. Fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy.
2. Value-added tax (VAT), despite speculation it would increase.
3. Personal income tax – no changes to the various brackets.

These are getting more expensive:

4. Alcohol. Specific excise duty on alcoholic beverages will increase by 6,7%-7,2%. (The price of a 340 ml can of beer will rise by 14c.)
5. Tobacco products. Increases of 4,7%-8,2%. A pack of 20 cigarettes will cost 97c more.
6. Plastic bags will become 32c more expensive from April 1.

These are being increased:

7. All social grants, excluding the Covid-19 social relief grant, will be increased, increasing the cost from R217,1 billion to R259,3 billion. The Covid-19 grant will be extended with an allocation of R33,6 billion for 2024/25.

Something new:

8. The two-pot pension system will come into effect from September 1. One-third of contributions will go into a savings portion and two-thirds into a retirement portion. You will be able to withdraw money from the savings portion before retirement. These pre-retirement withdrawals will be taxed at your marginal rate, like other income. One withdrawal may be made in a tax year and the minimum amount that may be withdrawn is R2 000.
9. A global minimum corporate tax is proposed. This will mean multinational companies will be subject to a tax rate of at least 15%, regardless of where the company’s profits are made.
10. Manufacturers of electric vehicles in South Africa making certain investments in the manufacturing process will be able to claim 150% of the value of these investments from their taxes. This tax credit is being introduced to assist the transition to electric vehicles. The type of investments that qualify is not yet known.