Motorists are spending up to R491 on just two taxes every time they fill up their vehicle in South Africa.
Petrol prices continue to be one of the biggest expenses eating into household incomes every month, and a large portion of this cost doesn’t even cover the fuel itself.
What you pay vs what you get
A significant portion of the retail price of every litre of fuel in South Africa goes towards two main taxes – the General Fuel Levy (GFL) and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) Levy.
As its name implies, the GFL is a general fund that the national government can use as it sees fit, which makes up approximately 5% of all the taxes collected in South Africa over a typical financial year.
The RAF Levy, meanwhile, goes towards the state-owned provider’s claims fund, which is meant to be paid out to citizens who experience a road-related accident resulting in injury, death, or loss of earnings.
The GFL adds R3.96 per litre while the RAF contributes another R2.18 per litre – resulting in a combined total of R6.14 per litre that citizens pay every time they refuel, depending on the type of propellant.
As a point of reference, petrol 93 is currently selling for R19.94 per litre at coastal rates as of October 2024, which means that 30.79% of the fuel you pay for is lost in taxes.
You can see what this is costing citizens at the pump based on the size of their tank in the table below:
| Tank size | Cost to refill in October 2024 (R19.94) | Cost to refill without fuel taxes (R13.80) | Difference |
| 30 litres | R598.20 | R414 | – R184.20 |
| 40 litres | R797.60 | R552 | – R245.60 |
| 50 litres | R997.00 | R690 | – R307.00 |
| 60 litres | R1,196.40 | R828 | – R368.40 |
| 70 litres | R1,395.80 | R966 | – R429.80 |
| 80 litres | R1,595.20 | R1,104 | – R491.20 |
What this shows is that, when you pay for R1,595 of petrol, you are actually only getting R1,104 worth of propellant, leaving a “hole” of R491 that goes to taxes and levies scooped up by the state.
Even with the smallest tank size, motorists are spending R184 on levies and are only getting R414 of value in real terms, illustrating how much of a drain these taxes can be on the average salary.
Pushing for change
The new Government of National Unity is well aware of how high South Africa’s petrol taxes are and it is currently working on a solution that will supposedly lower the cost of transport by a significant amount.
Naturally, the GFL and the RAF Levy are the two most obvious targets, but it remains to be seen whether any significant change will be brought about by the government’s promise.
This is because both of these levies are a major source of revenue for the state and its operations, which means altering either of them is sure to be a last resort.
The GFL was initially earmarked as a fund for road maintenance and infrastructure upgrades but was quickly funneled into the general revenue stream, leading to criticism that it is now a money-making scheme for the government.
As for the RAF, the service has been in dire financial straits for years, racking up a R1.5-billion budget deficit as of the 2023/2024 financial year, and is slow to process claims owing to its heavy reliance on litigation.
This has led to a call from the Fuel Retailer Association to scrap the RAF in favour of a national third-party insurance policy for vehicle coverage, which would erase the need for the R2.18 levy.
However, if both the GFL and RAF are reduced or removed altogether, the concern is that the government will compensate for the loss of revenue with a corresponding hike to things like VAT or income tax rates.
Join the discussion