Last night, hubby dropped a bombshell on me. Or at least, it seemed like it.
He gave me a computation for additional taxes I needed to pay by April 15.
The amount wasn’t peanuts. At least not for someone like me who has not had a paycheck for over a decade and just recently went back to work. Gee, with that amount of money going to taxes, I could already buy so much grocery, plunk a down payment on my kids’ tuition, or even get myself a new dress or shoes…no, SEVERAL dresses or shoes.
I don’t really mind paying taxes. I recognize my duty as a good citizen of this country.
What I really, really mind is WHERE my taxes will end up.
So many working people like myself pay our taxes religiously. We can’t escape it. The built-in withholding tax system ensures that the right amount of taxes are withheld from our pay every month.
But for the past months, seeing all these corruption scandals erupting here and there and not knowing how many more of these kinds of scandals have not yet been unearthed, I think to myself whether my taxes are going the WRONG way and are simply supporting lavish lifestyles of corrupt officials in government. We had the fertilizer scam, the “baboy” scam, and now this hullabaloo about rice shortage and I wonder…..
ANO PA KAYA????
As April 15 approaches, I wonder how many of the employed folks, ordinary citizens like myself, with young mouths to feed, with very little disposable income or savings, will troop to the BIR to pay taxes and like me, wonder where their hard-earned money will end up.
I am in the same boat now. Have to pay taxes. But feel so resistant about it. Why should I pay when I know it will go to the wrong hands.
Jane: Hi Tahn, and thanks for dropping by. Yes, these are difficult times for us. If only the gov’t would see that people will be more eager to pay regularly, and pay the RIGHT taxes, if improvements were visible in our personal lives. Not just economic blah-blahs about how our country is doing so well — stuff that look nice on paper but not felt down to the grassroots.
Everytime I see my tax on the monthly payslip I complain, and then I remember my mom telling me. Both your Papa and Me are government employees so the taxes you’re paying now helped our family.
I always tell myself I’m a government baby!
Jane: Hi Gailey! Yes, our taxes do help gov’t employees’ families and contribute to our country’s progress. But honest people like your parents probably could have been helped more if there was no leak/misuse of tax collections or gov’t funds by corrupt gov’t officials.