The GNU postponed the 19th Feb Budget over the 2% VAT hike proposal. This opens the door to other alternatives to the 2% VAT hike to raise the R60bn or so that the government claims it has to generate to fund the shortfall between revenue and expenditure. Below, we have laid out some politically plausible scenarios for Wednesday’s Budget. However, the bigger picture is that the Budget will almost certainly stick to a tried and failed ideology, regardless of method.