I read a recent article in the Financial Mail indicating that between 2005 and 2012 money paid to state employees went up by 76%.  The total bill for government employees has gone from 31,7% of government revenue in 2008 to 42,2% by 2012. The social grants we give out have gone from 12,6% to 14,2% which means, just between grants and what government employees are paid, that takes up 56,4% of all taxes that are raised.  In other words, everything else – education, public health, police, the defence force, etc – are all paid from 43,6%.  At the current rate, according to research done by Professor Rousseau, head of the Wits University School of Economic and Business Sciences, by the year 2026 – which is only 12 years away – social grants and state jobs will account for all government revenue.  They estimated if that was increased by 1%, company tax by 3%, fuel by 10% and personal tax for example increased to 50% at the top rate, that that would only buy us another two or three years.  It is no wonder that many years ago Trevor Manuel warned that the grant system was not sustainable, and that Pravin Gordhan said that we cannot afford to continually give above inflation wage increases to civil servants.  At the moment, nothing short of some amazing windfall, from the discovery of some sort of rare mineral and the taxes we are going to earn on it, is going to save us from what is a disastrous economic future between strikes from government employees for more wages and rapidly increasing taxes for everyone else.