When I was a ‘laaitie’ my parents often used to say to me : ‘You don’t know how good you’ve got it!’
I had not the faintest clue what they were talking about as my financial needs did not extend beyond a once-a-week visit to the local café to blow my spending money ( about 10c ) on a combination of sweets and comics.
By the early 70’s I was working. 1973 was effectively the beginning of the inflation spiral which continues unabated to today. From then on everything (including my income) tended to rise without interruption.
You might be interested to learn that the marginal tax rate back in the 70’s was about 64%. As I was earning about R3,600 per annum that was of no concern to me. But if you were actually earning the kind of money that put you into the marginal bracket you were enjoying the kind of wealth that would allow you to buy a couple of houses and a fleet of cars almost every year. I kid you not.
I have long argued that one of the major contributors to the decline of racing has been inflation & tax. Yes – there are a multitude of other reasons but the aforementioned should not be underestimated. The reality is that an increasing number of people simply cannot afford to keep horses even if they wanted to.
1978 saw me take my first share in a horse at the age of 26. It was only a one third share. I was earning R600 pm and the total training bill was R140 pm with my liability amounting to about R45. There were no Vet bills unless a horse actually broke down as the trainer did all of the veterinary work himself. The horse in question was a 5 yr old gelding who ran 2nd in his first outing for us and earned a prize of R800. Deductions from that stake were modest. So that pretty much took care of the first 6 months training fees.
1978 saw the introduction of GST and the start of an almost unimaginable raft of additional taxes that burden us today. Let’s summarise :
Before 1978 there was :
No VAT or GST
When you bought petrol you paid…….only for petrol @ R1,90 per litre. Today about 60% of the price of each litre comprises levies & taxes so if we were paying the same pro rata rate today as we were back then petrol would cost about R5,60 per litre.
No sugar tax
No tyre tax
No co2 tax on cars
No plastic bag tax
Very few citizens qualified for the marginal tax rate as you could live very well on a comparatively modest income way below the marginal rate
No dividend withholding tax
No Capital Gains Tax
Property rates were negligible
No ring fencing of racehorses
Minimal property transfer costs ( mainly stamp duty )
Lower estate duty
Very low donations tax
No airports tax
No toll road tax
Lower taxes on smokes and booze
Medical aid subscriptions were fully deductible and a fraction of the cost they are today whilst ALL schemes were comprehensive 100% coverage
I’ve probably missed a few but you get my drift.
I recently did a review of my earnings and quickly found out why my disposable has evaporated so dramatically in the last few years : My monthly tax bill now exceeds my total monthly income in 2003.
That pretty much explains where all the ‘middle class’ owners have gone notwithstanding the performance of the operator which will ensure they don’t return!
Last edit: 7 years 4 months ago by Garrick.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Russell, Pulse, kt6747, Tomtomq, LSU
Great read as always Garrick and so true. Much the same picture for the punter with pools fairly static and offering scant reward unless you happen to catch the sky falling. Winning an average size bet does very little for the individual and is probably only an operators dream as it hardly make sense to use it for anything other than another bet.
We need much bigger pools and a chance to win a modern day life changing amount, not one from the 70's.
And the food on the menu looks like the food you get on your plate. Today they advertise a lovely burger and what you get looks nothing like advertised.
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