I DON'T PAY TAX
Unless you're living in Monaco -
you know you're an adult when you start paying taxes.
Taxes are the bane of life.
And nobody has been more vocal
about it than my mother. I have these images in my head of when I was
younger and seeing her open up her pay slip. She'll take one look at
the tax deducted from her gross pay and would go off on an angry rant
because she was being charged too much tax and what pissed her off
even more was the thought of what her tax money was being used for.
And we come to the main point of
this essay.
My mother always got mad about
pregnant teenagers who were provided rent-free, fully furnished
council flats complete with a weekly/monthly stipend that had them
earning more than her simply for having their legs open and not using
a raincoat (as my mother would say lol). Damn right she had every
right to be mad.
And not just that but what about
people who claim ''job seekers'' allowance but hardly spend their
time looking for work, instead they spend their time buying the
latest items that even working folks cannot afford, or they spend it
on booze and other miscellaneous activities that doesn't add to their
life positively.
The system is fucked up.
I remember once I met a homeless
man, and I was in conversation with him asking how he got himself in
such a situation. He told me that his girlfriend broke up with him
and kicked him out of the house. Now this was a man who had a good
paying job as an accountant but unfortunately had been made redundant
and he now found himself sleeping on the street.
When I asked him why he couldn't
apply for job seekers allowance he told me that because he'd never
claimed benefits before he was refused financial support. Now this
was someone who had always been in employment, who was paying his
taxes. Yet in his time of need he was refused what should have been
his immediate right.
Yet the ones who have been in
the system since their youth, claiming benefits not in anyway
contributing to society are just twirling on in life spending other
people's hard-earned money. Now tell me, how can you pay your taxes
and not stay mad?
And then motherfuckers have the
fucking audacity to say immigrants need to leave their country.
Bitch, your grandfather should have gotten the fuck out of Africa,
Asia, the Middle East and anywhere his damn nose clearly didn't
belong in. And then we wouldn't be in this mess.
Many of the countries in Western
Europe was built of the backs of immigrants, immigrants who paid
their taxes.
The audacity that the British
government had to charge Salt Tax to the Indians stupefies me. The
absolute audacity. And now their coming with their Brexit shit to
'protect their borders'. Bitch please.
And yet this is what the Bible
says about taxes and governments.
ROMANS 13:1-6 (NIV):
Let everyone be subject to
the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that
which God has established. The authorities that exist have been
established by God.
Consequently, whoever rebels
against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted,
and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
For rulers hold no terror for
those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be
free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you
will be commended.
For the one in authority is
God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for
rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s
servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
Therefore, it is necessary to
submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment
but also as a matter of conscience.
This
is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants,
who give their full time to governing.
As
a Christian, I admit it's hard for me to reconcile with the fact that
God wants me to submit to the decisions of the governing body in the
nation I live in especially when I believe it's not in the best
interests of its citizens.
Yet
Jesus says, “Give unto Caesar, what belongs to Caesar.”
But
what about if Caesar doesn't deserve it?
Yes, I do understand that the
purpose of taxes is to pay government workers, maintain civilization
as well as protecting it. But why should the government have a say on
how they spend our hard-earned money?
So I propose a new way we should
pay our taxes. People should get a choice on what their individual
taxes are spent on.
What I appreciate the most about
taxes, is that in most, if not all, European countries, basic
healthcare is at no extra charge. I think about a country like
Nigeria and the amount of people whose loved ones would still be
alive today if only free healthcare was not a thing of the past. The
lack of money should never be the factor as to why someone cannot
receive treatment, but unfortunately that is the current situation in
so many other countries.
So I would say that if there
ever was a tax reformation where citizens were given the choice to
choose what department they want the tax that they paid to be
allocated to, healthcare would always be my choice without a doubt.
Now for the year 2016/2017 the
United Kingdom apparently spent £45.6bn of taxpayers money on
defence (http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/government_expenditure.html).
Honestly, that's a ridiculous amount of money.
And speaking of defence - I
don't support the military. Now that's an essay for another day. But
yet if I were to pay taxes a portion of it will go there or into
research to making the next most destructive weapon.
And do I really like the thought
that with my money children soldiers in Syria are being trained how
to hold a gun, aim and fire?
Is that not a valid reason to be
mad to be paying taxes?
And then to add insult upon
injury huge corporations like Google and Apple, the latter a company
that is set to probably be the first trillion dollar company pays
copper coins in taxes? You can read more on it here.
How is that fair? People who are
bottom or near bottom the food chain have to be the ones carrying the
weight of the mass.
I don't blame wealthy people who
hide their money Switzerland or Bermuda.
Why is it that even though we
are adults we are told how to spend a portion of the money we worked
for?
And not just that but we never
received one lesson about taxes in school. A school that for many of
us is government-funded too by tax payers money.
Yet grown-ups were the ones who
always said we should be grateful to have “free” education when
we moaned about going to school. What exactly were we learning when
we were not being educated on the things we were supposed to
fundamentally know?
And as soon as we start earning
income we're signed up for something we never agreed to.
See, governments have their
citizens ignorant and most people are too apathetic to care.
But then there's those who stay
mad and do something about it. Because the truth is taxes are as
certain as death. Whether we like it or not – it's always going to
happen. It is just a matter of knowing how to make the system work
for us.
If you were given the choice on
where the money you pay in tax should be allocated to, what would be
your three choices?
Let me know in the comments!
- Efé's Thought For The Month: Guess How Much Debt I'm In...?
- Efé's Thought For The Month: I am Not Black