BUDGET 2025! HAS IT HELPED SMALL BUSINESS?

Article by: Rosebank Accountant: Vincent Motsi

Only the most retarded among us would declare Budget 2025 a Small Business friendly budget!

Small Businesses are running on fumes. Load-shedding’s finally easing (thanks, private solar, not you, Eskom), but costs are through the roof—fuel, rent, wages, you name it. Unemployment’s at 31.9%, so potential customers are broke, and GDP growth is estimated at a pathetic 1.6 to1.9%, which is not enough to lift anyone out of this hole.

The National Debt is at 76% of GDP, and the government’s spending 20% of our taxes just to pay interest.

So, what are the positives (If you can call them that)?

1. Infrastructure Cash Dump
1. What They Said: R19.2 billion for PRASA, R11.8 billion for other projects - big talk about fixing rail and roads.
2. My Take: Sure, if they actually pull it off, maybe delivery costs drop in five years when the trains work. Maybe entrepreneurs could even bid on a contract, if they survive the bribery gauntlet and the tender mafia.
3. Brutal Truth: We’ve heard this song before. Projects get announced, money disappears, and we’re still stuck paying drivers to sit in traffic jams caused by Government incompetence. Don’t hold your breath.
2. Fuel Levy Didn’t Explode
1. What They Said: No big hike, just a “minimal adjustment” to keep us calm.
2. My Take: Oh, thank you, mighty Enoch, for not kicking me in the teeth harder! Fuel’s still bloody expensive, but at least it’s not jumping R2 a litre overnight. I can keep my vehicle running...barely!
3. Brutal Truth: This isn’t a win; it’s just not losing worse. Global oil prices will screw us anyway, and business margins are already razor thin. Pathetic!
3. Employment Program Crumbs
1. What They Said: R22.7 billion for skills levies and vague promises of jobs and training.
2. My Take: Maybe entrepreneurs could hire a youth with this subsidy or get someone trained without footing the whole bill. Anything to cut costs sounds good.
3. Brutal Truth: These schemes are a nightmare to access, forms, queues, and some SETA official who doesn’t answer calls. By the time you get help, you’ll have laid off half your staff to stay alive.
4. VAT Zero-Rating Bone
1. What They Said: More food items VAT-free to “help the poor.”
2. My Take: If you sell bread or pap, maybe a few more people buy from you instead of Shoprite. Keeps the till ticking over.
3. Brutal Truth: Big deal. Small businesses still have to file VAT returns, pay accountants, and watch customers count coins because they’re taxed to death elsewhere. This doesn’t fix their bottom line....it’s a plaster on a gaping wound.

The negatives (where do we begin)?

1. VAT Hike—Death by a Thousand Cuts
1. What They Said: After the February 2% fiasco, they “compromised” with a 0.5% rise over two years. R28 billion more for them.
2. My Take: Are you kidding me? Every rand my customers lose to VAT is a rand they don’t spend with entrepreneurs.
3. Brutal Truth: This is a slow strangulation. They’re squeezing the life out of the economy to fund their bloated salaries and grants. Taxpayers are not a charity for your fiscal mess, Enoch.
2. No Tax Bracket Fix—Screw You, Middle Class
1. What They Said: No inflation adjustment for personal income tax. Bracket creep strikes again.
2. My Take: Our customers, those few who still have employees, are paying more tax on the same gross income.
3. Brutal Truth: This is daylight robbery. They’re taxing us into oblivion while preaching “growth.”
3. No Real SMME Help—Just Lip Service
1. What They Said: Nothing. No tax breaks, no grants, no cheap loans—just silence while they pump billions into PRASA and Government wages.
2. My Take: SMME’s have been begging for relief. Instead, they get nada. They’re the backbone of the damn economy Government keeps yapping about. But they’d rather bail out SOEs than save them.
3. Brutal Truth: They don’t give a damn. SMME’s are collateral damage in their GNU circus. R23.4 billion for public servants?
4. Grant System Chaos—More Waiting, Less Winning
1. What They Said: SRD grant’s sticking around, maybe going permanent, but it’s all fuzzy on how they’ll pay for it.
2. My Take: Grants keep some cash flowing, but if they’re spending our taxes on handouts instead of fixing the economy, we’re screwed long-term.
3. Brutal Truth: This is a political bribe, not a plan. We need jobs, not handouts, and we need roads and power that work. Stop dithering and do something useful for once.

At SME.TAX we do more than just assist clients with understanding the budget, we are your “one stop SME shop”, assisting with everything from Accounting, Business Management, BEE, Consulting, Company Registration to Payroll and Mentoring.

For more information, please visit our website www.sme.tax or give us a call on 012 021 0829