According to law, municipal councils are compelled to include the public in their decision-making and executive functions. To this end, most municipalities set up ward committees to liaise between residents and ratepayers and the council. These ward committees would have rendered ratepayers’ associations redundant. Unfortunately, most of these ward committees are dysfunctional. Therefore ratepayers’ associations have become necessary once again in order to exercise oversight and to form a link between local government and ratepayers.

It is very simple to form a ratepayers’ association:

• Contact a group of people who would be willing to work on ratepayers’ issues;
• Call a meeting of this group – it can be anywhere: your local library, somebody’s lounge, a church hall, etc;
• Elect a Chairman, a deputy chairman, a secretary, a deputy secretary and a treasurer (this is the committee);
• Adopt a Constitution (the Ratepayers Association of Southbroom have an excellent Constitution, and it can be adapted for your own purposes. Ratepayers Association of Southbroom Constitution);
• Your association has now been formed.
• Every member now needs to pay a membership fee, the amount of which the committee can decide according to the general income-level of the area – around R50 per year can be regarded as a guideline;
• Each member must be given a receipt by the Treasurer (a cheap receipt-book can be purchased from the CNA);
• The first task of the secretary is to open a file in which all members names and contact details are listed, along with their payment date – it is a good idea to also keep record of any particular contribution to the association that these members are willing to make (it makes it easier to call on volunteers if you already have a list of skills and availability);
• The first task of the treasurer is to open a bank account to deposit the membership fees and to notify SARS that you have created this association. Give them the details of the bank account. Any SARS official will be able to give you advice on this process.
• The first task of the chairman and deputy is to decide on a schedule of public meetings to discuss issues and set out a course of action;
• Meetings can be advertised through posters up at libraries, community halls, streets pole posters (permission would need to be obtained from the municipality), the local community newspaper.

The release did not grab headlines, as the release of tax returns is not news in the US, and presidents and vice presidents annually publish their tax returns, in the interests of transparency.

Chris Hart adds “The overall tax burden has a direct bearing on the ability of a country to compete in the global economy. It affects the investment hurdle rate and consequently the growth rate.

That’s right almost one-third of your year (129 days) has been spent working to pay for the costs of government!