The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) has slammed a new proposal for motorists to pay an extra R100 “penalty levy” on each traffic infringement notice they receive.
The proposal is contained in Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) draft regulations gazetted by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula earlier this month.
“An infringement penalty levy shall be payable on every infringement notice issued and followed up by proper administrative processes by the Authority in terms of the Act,” the proposed regulation states.
‘Stealth tax’
In an interview with SABC News on Tuesday, AA spokesperson Layton Beard said the proposal amounts to a “stealth tax.”
He explained, “When you look at the reasoning behind including it, it’s to administer the [traffic] fine process. And in our view, that should be covered certainly by the fines.
“The money generated from the infringement penalty levy is a multibillion rand tax which will generate revenue [on a] magnitude beyond that needed by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA).”
Beard said the levy is akin to the government charging taxpayers to submit their taxes, adding that it is “unfair and unjust.” AA will officially lobby for it to be removed from the final regulations, he said.
“When you look at the number of infringement notices and fines that are going to be issued, they are going to be in the hundreds of thousands, and the money generated from the [levy] would be in the order of billions,” he added.
No discount, refunds ‘unclear’
The proposal states that no discount shall be applicable on this levy. Beard also said the draft regulations are unclear on whether or not the government would refund the levy to motorists who successfully contest their infringement notices.
He said, “There are going to be a lot of people who would rather pay this money and be done with the whole fine process. But that’s unfair.
“It’s going to generate billions of rand simply for the benefit of receiving a fine. The fine amount should cover the administration of the process and not an additional amount that we feel is being added on as a stealth tax.”
The draft regulations are open for public comment until the end of December 2020. The government aims to introduce the first set of regulations in July 2021.
To download the AARTO draft regulations gazette notice in PDF from RTIA’s website, click here (read from page 38).