Written submission on the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) critiques the 2023 South African Budget, asserting that it prioritizes debt stabilization and austerity over essential public services and social protection. The IEJ highlights significant real-term funding shortfalls in healthcare, education, and social grants, and warns that conditions on Eskom's debt relief facilitate privatization and exacerbate energy poverty. The document calls for a shift toward a developmental macroeconomic framework, progressive taxation—including a wealth tax and returning the corporate tax rate to 28%—and the implementation of a permanent basic income support system to address systemic inequality and poverty.

• The 2023 National Budget and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) propose a real-term reduction in non-interest expenditure of R162 billion over the medium term, representing a decrease of 2.65%.
• Budget under-allocations compared to inflation have resulted in medium-term shortfalls for critical public services: R47 billion for healthcare, R39 billion for basic education, and R37 billion for social protection.
• Social grants are failing to protect the poorest from inflation; while some grants keep pace with headline inflation, food-price inflation has reached a nine-year high of 13.4%, eroding the spending power of low-income earners.
• The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant budget is cut by R8 billion (18%) from 2022/23 to R36 billion, with no allocations provided for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.
• Conditions attached to Eskom's debt relief (R254 billion of R423 billion) prohibit the utility from investing in new renewable generation, instead limiting investment to transmission and distribution and shifting generation to the private sector.
• Tax relief measures in the budget primarily benefit the wealthy, including R15.7 billion in tax band adjustments and R9 billion directed toward rooftop solar for large businesses and wealthy households.
• The IEJ identifies increased fiscal space due to revenue being R93 billion higher than estimated in the 2022/23 Budget, driven by commodity price rises and improved SARS capacity.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2023). Written submission on the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IEJ-2023-Submission-27-February-2023.docx.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Written submission on the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals. 2023. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IEJ-2023-Submission-27-February-2023.docx.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Written submission on the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals |date=27 February 2023 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IEJ-2023-Submission-27-February-2023.docx.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2023written, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Written submission on the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IEJ-2023-Submission-27-February-2023.docx.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }