Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities
Question by:
Hon Deidré Baartman
Answered by:
Hon David Maynier
Question Number:
2
Question Body:
- How much is estimated to have been lost as tax revenue from the province in terms of (a) rand, (b) the direct and indirect impact on jobs and (c) the GDP due to the national COVID-19 lockdown regulations, which bans alcohol, between March 2020 and July 2020?
Answer Body:
- As the tax revenue is administered by National Treasury and distributed through the equitable divisional share to provinces, the actual impact on the revenue can only be worked out following the end of the fiscal year on the 31 March 2021. However, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni stated during his Special Adjustment Budget speech on the 24 June 2020, that National Treasury expects a R300 billion tax revenue shortfall for the 2020/21 financial year. However, at present no official data has been released regarding the provincial breakdown of lost tax revenue.
- StatsSA is responsible for employment and unemployment data. The data for the period in question has not yet been published by StatsSA.
- The Western Cape’s alcohol sales were R24.2 billion in 2019. The lockdown regulations severely affected sales between March 2020 and July 2020 and it is estimated that the region lost revenue of R8.3 billion. This likely impacted 15,143 direct jobs in the retail sector and 7,239 induced and indirect jobs across the value chain (manufacturing, packaging, farming) bringing it to an estimate total of 22,382 jobs that may have been impacted by the alcohol ban.
Date:
Friday, August 21, 2020
