Name: Celebrate Tax Freedom!
Start: 2016-05-25T19:00:00+02:00
End: 2016-05-25T22:00:00+02:00
Location: Fratelli's Ferndale

This is an invitation to take part in a celebration of Tax Freedom Day.

The exact date is still being calculated by the Free Market Foundation, but our celebration is scheduled for May 25 2016, FMF’s current estimate.

Tax Freedom Day is a measure of how much of the year we need to work to be able to pay for government expenditure. In South Africa, in 2016, since general government revenue was predicted to be 39.3% of South Africa's GDP, we could dedicate the first 39.3% of the year working for the government, and the rest of the year working to pay for our other expenses. So, Tax Freedom Day in 2016 in South Africa was predicted to be about May 25 2016.

(Source - Free Market Foundation (http://www.freemarketfoundation.com/Article-View/media-release-predicted-tax-freedom-day-2016-%E2%80%93-may-25))

Tax Freedom Day is a fun way to think about government spending - obviously we don't save all our money from the beginning of the year in order to be able to pay for all the things government buys with our tax money, but if we did, we'd have to save from 1 January to around 25 May in 2016 – about 5 days longer than we'd have to save in 2015!

On Tax Freedom Day, we have an opportunity to consider and contemplate the role of government in our lives. We're paying for government service delivery through many different kinds of taxes, it makes sense that we should spend some time thinking about whether we are getting value for money, and how we could improve. As citizens, we have a duty to ensure that the government we have is efficient, effective, responsible, and accountable. We need to be able to answer some difficult questions, such as:

• Is the government taking too much of our money as tax?
Or too little?

• Are there better things we could do with some of the money rather than give it to the government to spend?

• Is the government using our money effectively?

• Are the programs created by the government worth their cost?

• Could we achieve the same results with less spending?

• Could we achieve better results with the same spending if the programs were better designed?

• What should the government do more of? What should the government do less of?

• How could we better address the problem of government corruption?

• How could we better address the problem of government waste?

• Are there things the government does that add no benefit, which we should not be doing?

• Is there anything the government does that would be done better if they were done by the people themselves?

The government will take, on average, approximately 145 days of work in 2016, in the form of hundreds of different taxes spread out across the year. Maybe this is justifiable, and maybe not.

If we are getting value for money, in terms of the various services, such as financial aid and policing, then maybe the government is doing a good job with our tax money, and should take more of it. Or maybe we could be achieving better results privately, as individuals and communities, without quite as much tax money being spent on waste or corruption or just poorly thought out and executed plans.

As responsible and engaged citizens, we should be able to answer these questions. This is an invitation for you to join the conversation. On May 25 2016, let's take a few moments to seriously consider these issues. Please, join us, and make your voice heard.

You can participate in any way you feel comfortable:

• Talk about these questions with colleagues, friends, and family

• Share your suggestions on Facebook and Twitter with #TaxFreedomDay

• Write a letter to your favourite newspaper's editor

We need to have a serious conversation about these questions. Understanding the problem is a first step to fixing the problem. At the end of the day, you are welcome to join us for a wrap up of the day.

Colin Phillips

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