Knysna mayor: Poor people are subsidizing the rich
The Mayor of Knysna says people living in disadvantaged communities are contributing more property tax than some residents from affluent neighbourhoods.
Elrick van Aswegen says the municipality is losing between R300-R400-million annually because of this.
Knysna is home to some of the most luxurious properties on the market but according to the municipality, some homes are drastically undervalued with the municipality struggling to collect rates and taxes.
Van Aswegen said, “I have always said in council that the poor people are subsidizing the rich people. And sometimes when you make such a statement people think I am referring to black people because the majority of poor people are black.”
“I am talking about all the people of Knysna and even in my investigation in the report we found from the DBSA touched on that and actually confirmed what I suspected all these years.”
The executive mayor says some of the town’s commercial property and agricultural landowners are also undervalued.
He said, “that’s why municipalities are struggling we are overburdening our consumers out there to get services that we render just remember the majority of our townspeople are poor. So where is the money? The money should be in the property tax.”
The local ratepayers association is denying these claims.
Knysna Ratepayers’ Susan Campbell said, “the rich property owners are paying by far the biggest share of property tax or rates so I can only assume that we have got elections and also the fact that he needs to find the money to pay the danger pay.”.
The executive mayor of Knysna says he won’t be drawn into a race discussion by making these revelations.
He says it’s important to address the issue ahead of the Local Government Election so that the coastal town could enjoy better municipal services in the future.
Source: eNCA
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