In ancient times, taxes have always been a menace to the people, and we were taught that it was hell living during the ancient eras since there’s still no law to inhibit the rich from enslaving the poor. We’ve undergone this revolution thing that our ancient heroes did to save our country, the Philippines, from other countries — dying to provide us freedom we share today. Well, wait, freedom?
Yes, we can do all we want except doing things that are against the law — laws created by those who are in positions of power. There’s nothing wrong with most of it, but we can’t deny the fact that there is a huge fallacy with regards to some of it — particularly taxes. They say that taxes are good for the economy. They can provide security, education, growth, and much more. This can be true, but do taxes help the majority of the people? The government imposed different types of taxes, but when you look at it closely, they only benefit the rich and hurt the poor. Worst, even if you earn less than what your whole family should have every day, you won’t escape the menace of this hidden thief in our society. And let me inform you about this — taxes are absolutely everywhere. If you can afford education, you’d be paying taxes. If you can only afford a can of sardines for your family’s one-and-only meal for that day, you’ve got to pay taxes. You’re basically forced to pay taxes in your lifetime. But then, would even your children realize that from the day they were born, until the day they were buried — the government will have little to no impact on your family. Compare that to the benefits that money would have given you if you hadn’t trusted it to the government.
There are different types of taxes, and most of these will be charged from you without even realizing it. Got a job? Check your paycheck and see how much income tax has been deducted from your salary. Bought some groceries? Check the VAT part of your receipt, that’s the tax you paid to the government. Oh! I buy everything from my neighbour’s store, they don’t issue receipt so I’m not paying taxes! Come on, they put interest on top of the original price of that item they bought to retail. The original prices of all of these items have VAT in it. Next, will you process some papers for your professionalism or job application? I bet you will fall in dismay if you realize how much you will be paying the government just to get that piece of paper or ID for you to be hired by your agency.
Taxes here, taxes there, taxes everywhere. But then, you hear news of the rich evading taxes. Wait, what? The poor and the average have no escape from taxes, and you hear from left to right that Mr. loan-shark or Mr. mall-owner have been evading taxes all this time. Well, there is a process on how these business owners pay taxes, but I’m not sure how they are able to evade it. We see on the news of those who get caught, but I bet a million of them more are still there doing their thing.
Taxation is theft, and is a great menace, not just in the Philippines, but the whole world. Corruption moves these taxes into the pocket of those who are in power. Do not forget — taxes are paid mostly by the poor and the average ONLY.