The Minister of Social Development invites the public to comment on the Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reform (Mandatory Pension and Basic Income Grant).
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- increasing income taxes to fund a Basic Income Grant
- mandatory contributions to a state-run pension scheme.
Add your suggestions, or have your say below.
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Mandatory government pension fund
The green paper proposes creating a mandatory pension and insurance system called the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) that will be funded with payroll contributions ranging between 8% and 12% of earnings, with the following thresholds in place:
- Workers earning more than the ceiling of R276,000 per annum, or R23,000 per month, will not be obligated to contribute on income above that level.
- Workers earning less than R20,000 per year should not be obliged to contribute to the NSSF, though they will continue contributing to the UIF.
Universal Basic Income Grant
To fund the lowest level of its proposed universal basic income grant, the Department of Social Development said a 10-percentage point increase on income taxes would be needed to raise R200 billion.
The paper says that government should strive to achieve a basic income for all South Africans of at least R7,500 per month using a combination of the grant and labour.
WHAT IS A GREEN PAPER?
The process of making a law sometimes begins with a discussion document, called a Green Paper. This is drafted in the Ministry or department dealing with the particular issue in order to show the way that it is thinking on a particular policy. It is then published so that anyone who is interested can give comments, suggestions and ideas.
The Green Paper is sometimes followed by a more refined discussion document, called a White Paper, which is a broad statement of government policy.
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