Motorists will be hit hard following Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni’s, 2019 Budget Speech. The costs they’ll have to budget even harder for, are the fuel price levy, the Road Accident Fund levy and a Carbon Tax.
Consumers in general can expect an increase in the cost of daily living, not only at the fuel pumps but when buying consumables like tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks.
What you should prepare for:
Filling up and on the road:
Taking all of the above points into consideration, by the middle of the year, motorists will be paying around R14,94 per litre of petrol and R14,22 per litre of diesel. So a car with a 50 litre fuel tank will cost around R747 (petrol) and R711 (diesel) to fill up.
Prices of tobacco and alcohol:
Smokers take note:
A pack of 20 cigarettes will cost R1.14 more and excise duty on a typical cigar will go up by about 64 cents.
Wine lovers alert:
You will pay 22 cents more for a 750ml litre bottle, and sparkling wine will cost an extra 84 cents. 340ml cans of beer will increase by 12 cents. There will be no tax on sorghum beer.
Whisky drinkers, brace yourselves:
A R4.54 per bottle price increase is coming your way.
If you can’t fit these increases into your monthly budget, it’s a good idea to consider cutting down or cutting these items out rather than risking your health with inferior quality items as this could end up costing you far more in medical bills in the future.
Sugar lovers beware:
Introduced last year, the sugar tax will increase from 2.1 cents per gram above 4 grams, to 2.21 cents per gram.
Wondering where you tax money goes?
In the 2019 budget, 47.9% of nationally-raised funds are allocated to national government, 43% to provinces and 9.1% to local government over the medium term, after providing for debt-service costs and the contingency reserve.
There is good news!
Good news inEducation:
More than R30 billion has been allocated to build new schools and maintain schooling infrastructure.
Good news in Healthcare:
To increase the number of doctors and nurses in the public health sector, R2.8 billion has been allocated to a new human resources grant and R1bn for medical interns.
Good news for Entrepreneurs
R481.6m has been allocated to the Small Enterprise Development Agency to expand the small business incubation programme.
Good news in Housing:
A R950m subsidy has been allocated over three years to assist first-time home buyers when purchasing a home.
Good news in alleviating poverty:
R567bn has been allocated to social grant payments to assist the elderly and provide for child support.
So taking all of this into account Budget Insurance suggests five things to consider when reviewing your monthly budget – ‘cos you can’t afford not to!
And there you have it – the lowdown on the Budget Speech and what you need to know to stay in budget in 2019!
This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or financial advice.