u/Enduroboss

I can't post in the Johannesburg sub, I get the feeling its run by the same or similar mods as the other sub.

Pikitup haven't come all week. My neighbourhood is starting to look like a rubbish dump. People are just dumping bags around dustbins. Trash pickers are littering it all over the streets. What f is going on? What is this flipping government doing?

I'm voting DA because as a home owner in Johannesburg and I cannot stand paying ever increasing taxes when service delivery is so incredibly pathetic. Infrastructure is literally crumbling, and anything involving government services is an utter shit show. I may have to let one of my employees go because rates and taxes are outpacing my income, something has got to give at this rate. Policing is also basically non-existent in Joburg. I have to admit I am envious of Western Capes service delivery and the impeccable state of the province, at least by comparison.

I speak as a home owner, I don't want to see my investment being devalued due to poor governance of the province. Where is your vote going and whats your reasoning?

I have hope for South Africa and it's future, but that hope rests on stamping out government corruption. Vote wisely.

I've noticed a lot of brown-nosing of billionaires lately, specifically Elon, probably because he's South African.

I'm not saying he's done nothing for society. Starlink is a decent innovation, and he possibly spurred some competition in the electric vehicle market. But honestly, how much has he actually done for South Africa? What has he done that's made any material difference in your life?

Are people really oblivious to the fact that, proportionate to their income, billionaires pay very little tax? Are they oblivious to the artificial inflation of stock valuations, the consolidation of wealth driving inequality, or the fact that these billionaire-owned companies are contributing to rampant inflation?

Sure, most billionaire wealth sits in assets, stocks, bonds and commodities. But do you honestly think they paid 40%+ tax, like the middle class does, on the money used to buy yachts, mansions and private islands? They're almost certainly running accounting tricks and tax loopholes to minimise what they owe. Not illegal, but absolutely a societal problem.

I recommend everyone looks into the accounting that is used to valuate stocks like Starlink ,NVidia, Oracle, Intel, Alphabet etc

The concentration is now the highest on record, the top tech stocks alone accounted for 53% of the S&P 500's entire return in 2025.

I'm no economist, but I think a lot of people would benefit from some basic reading or watching on this topic instead of saluting billionaires perceived genius.

I recommend everyone checks out videos on this topic on Gary's Economics channel, and strangely enough Barry's Economics channel on YouTube.

Gary's Economics on YouTube breaks it down pretty clearly and concisely, and interestingly, he's a wealthy person himself advocating for a wealth tax.

I genuinely don't care if people are rich, especially if they earned it legitimately, they deserve it, but I am wary that consolidation of wealth is going to create extreme poverty(Look up the K shaped economy for reference).

My point is I think people have way too much pride in obscenely rich people walking on society in order to gain control of the money and power. That wealth tax would benefit society as a whole. That it's immoral for middle class folk paying large portions of their income to tax, while billionaires use accounting trickery to avoid paying a fair amount tax.