South Africa is proposing a new 1% tax to boost its cash-strapped national broadcaster instead of relying on licence revenues, Business Day reported on Monday.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) made R822-million for the 2007/08 financial year in licence revenues, the daily said, and the new levy may more than double that.
”A tax of up to 1% would be imposed on taxpayers above their personal income tax to assist broadcasting,” the daily quoted the Director General of the Department of Communications, Mamodupi Mohlala, as saying.
She said the broadcaster should concentrate on local production, not collecting fees, but critics of the new levy say it is too much for citizens already facing a 45% hike in electricity costs this year. — Reuters