With just 23 days to go before he delivers his eighth Budget speech on February 18, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Monday once again called on his fellow citizens to give him tips on how to tailor the Budget to better reflect their priorities.
The Tips for Trevor campaign is now in its fifth year. It was first mooted after a radio programme on SAfm invited its listeners to phone in and provide tips for the Budget. The National Treasury has since taken on the campaign which runs on its website throughout the year.
Before last year’s Budget speech more than 1 500 South Africans from diverse backgrounds offered their advice to the Minister. Many gave technical advice on tax issues and spending, while others found the time to think through innovative and creative suggestions.
In Cape Town, an organisation in an area called Vrygrond went as far as organising a Tips for Trevor workshop to draw on suggestions from their community for the Minister.
Manuel often makes reference to the suggestions received from the Tips for Trevor campaign, even mentioning a few of them during the speech.
Last year, the Minister invited two members of the public who forwarded their tips to the Minister to a meeting to discuss their suggestions.
Since the Budget speech last year, some of the ideas put to the Minister include a freeze on salaries and wages as a short term measure to job creation, higher taxes on guns and tax relief on school fees, amongst others.
Manuel also normally gives journalists covering the budget baskets of fruit representing the harvesting of the fruits of prior years.
To illustrate this point, journalists were given baskets of plums last year that were labeled “Budget 2003/04 Doing the right thing”.
The most significant of the fruits was a R13,4-billion tax cut made to individuals in the 2003/4 fiscal year. – I-Net Bridge