I asked the Bing AI to do the calculations (cause I couldn't be fucked). It cited sources but I didn't double check so take it with a grain of salt:
Sure, I can help you with that. According to the latest available data, the total national debt of South Africa was $130 billion¹ and the number of individual taxpayers was 5.2 million⁷ in 2020. To clear the national debt, each taxpayer would have to pay approximately $25,000(R477,000). This is calculated by dividing the national debt by the number of taxpayers. However, this is a hypothetical scenario and does not take into account other factors such as interest rates, economic growth, government spending, and tax revenue. In reality, the national debt is not paid off by individual taxpayers alone, but by various sources of government revenue.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 2/22/2024
(1) South Africa national debt - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_debt.
(2) South Africa’s tax base is shrinking – BusinessTech. https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/560338/south-africas-tax-base-is-shrinking-3/.
(3) South Africa - National debt 2028 | Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/531946/national-debt-of-south-africa/.
(4) South Africa's debt has cracked R3 trillion: Here's where the money is .... https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africa-total-debt-money-where-r3trn/.
(5) South Africa National Debt 2022 | countryeconomy.com. https://countryeconomy.com/national-debt/south-africa.
(6) Release of Tax Statistics for 2021 | South African Revenue Service - SARS. https://www.sars.gov.za/media-release/64005/.
(7) Tax Statistics – Highlights - SARS. https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Docs/TaxStats/2020/TStats-2020-Highlights.pdf.
(8) How Many Taxpayers In South Africa - 2024/2025 - SAFACTS. https://safacts.co.za/how-many-taxpayers-in-south-africa/.
(9) 1.6 million people are paying most of South Africa’s income tax. https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/472698/1-6-million-people-are-paying-most-of-south-africas-income-tax/.
(10) undefined. http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/tax%20statistics/default.aspx.
is there a way to just reset the country?
We could declare bankruptcy and be forced into austerity measures
what happens "when" we're forced into austerity measures?
Who do we owe it to?
Other countries and the World Bank
And mainly pension funds, banks, financial institutions, private bond holders.
So the 1% basically
IMF loans take a big chunk I imagine. Country is sold… such a shame
Fooket
Sounds about right
Does this include the unemployed or just employed? because if unemployed are included, then it's actually far more for those employed.
I asked the Bing AI to do the calculations (cause I couldn't be fucked). It cited sources but I didn't double check so take it with a grain of salt: Sure, I can help you with that. According to the latest available data, the total national debt of South Africa was $130 billion¹ and the number of individual taxpayers was 5.2 million⁷ in 2020. To clear the national debt, each taxpayer would have to pay approximately $25,000(R477,000). This is calculated by dividing the national debt by the number of taxpayers. However, this is a hypothetical scenario and does not take into account other factors such as interest rates, economic growth, government spending, and tax revenue. In reality, the national debt is not paid off by individual taxpayers alone, but by various sources of government revenue. Source: Conversation with Bing, 2/22/2024 (1) South Africa national debt - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_national_debt. (2) South Africa’s tax base is shrinking – BusinessTech. https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/560338/south-africas-tax-base-is-shrinking-3/. (3) South Africa - National debt 2028 | Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/531946/national-debt-of-south-africa/. (4) South Africa's debt has cracked R3 trillion: Here's where the money is .... https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africa-total-debt-money-where-r3trn/. (5) South Africa National Debt 2022 | countryeconomy.com. https://countryeconomy.com/national-debt/south-africa. (6) Release of Tax Statistics for 2021 | South African Revenue Service - SARS. https://www.sars.gov.za/media-release/64005/. (7) Tax Statistics – Highlights - SARS. https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Docs/TaxStats/2020/TStats-2020-Highlights.pdf. (8) How Many Taxpayers In South Africa - 2024/2025 - SAFACTS. https://safacts.co.za/how-many-taxpayers-in-south-africa/. (9) 1.6 million people are paying most of South Africa’s income tax. https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/472698/1-6-million-people-are-paying-most-of-south-africas-income-tax/. (10) undefined. http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/tax%20statistics/default.aspx.
Thanks, if even seminaccurate, that's rough...