Africa-Press – South-Africa. Momentum Corporate’s Hugh Hacking previews Budget 2026, with a focus on personal and business taxes.
On the eve of the Budget Speech, debate is swirling on what we can expect from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday.
One of the big questions for the average consumer is of course around taxation, and especially the role of bracket creep.
When personal income tax is not raised, but at the same time tax brackets are not adjusted for inflation, it means many salary earners do actually fork out more to the taxman.
This is what happened in Budget 2025, when Godongwana proposed keeping tax brackets unchanged for a second consecutive year.
Stephen Grootes talks to Hugh Hacking, Executive Head for Structured Investments and Annuities at Momentum Corporate.
The Minister is expected to follow the same route for Budget 2026, Hacking says.
Sketching the broader picture that influences tax decisions, he says we can expect to see a drive towards fiscal stability, which doesn’t necessarily mean austerity but instead looking to prudent budgeting where expense increases are contained.
“What we’ve seen recently also are the windfalls through additional tax collection, and we have a real projected GDP growth of 1.4% for this year. Those are quite good news items that are likely to soften any kind of inclinations in the Budget to increase taxes… so we’re unlikely to see tax increases, probably just taxes rising through some bracket creep where we’ll ultimately pay a bit more simply because our salaries are going up due to inflation.”
Other real tax increases will probably be felt through the normal sin taxes hikes, Hacking says.
Some businesses could also be affected by the carbon tax going up, accompanied by some supportive concessions, he adds.
“Counterbalancing the carbon tax which has been ratcheting up, we’re likely to see some concessions that will support particularly industries that have been hit by the high tariffs imposed by the US. Also likely is some discussion around filling that hole created by USAID and PEPFAR funding falling away.”
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