Taxation And Social Justice: Leveling The Playing Field

As a citizen of a country , one would obviously pays taxes in one way or the other. Whether you like it or not you’d pay taxes with or without knowing. In Ghana, I know that even little kids pay taxes because everything if this country is being taxed.

Over the past four years, Ghanaians have been taxed so much so that we are even fed up of it. Things that didn’t use to have tax on them are being taxed now. Imagine having to pay 1% tax on every mobile transaction you make. Even if you bought airtimes worth of 0.1 Ghana cedis, you’d have to pay a 1% tax. But personally, my problem isn’t with paying the tax but with where the money is going.

Taxes being taken from citizens are supposed to be used to undertake developmental projects for the benefit of all citizens but in Ghana, that is not that case. We keep paying taxes on everything in this country yet we are not even able to live comfortably. The government keeps introducing new taxes everyday with no clear plan on the reason for the tax and where the money is going to be invested. It’s all about taking money from citizens and mismanaging it.

If everyone of us pays taxes in todays world, that means that both the rich and poor pay taxes. But then, is it fair for a billionaire and someone struggling to afford breakfast to pay the same tax. In one world, someone would say it’s fair because they are all citizens and should be treated equally which is true. But, when we look at it from the perspective of what they earn and the wealth they have, I bet we would all agree that everyone should be taxed based on his wealth.

Imagine asking a poor man to pay taxes worth more than his monthly salary while that same tax is more of a chicken change to the rich man. In a situation like this, one party wouldn’t mind but the other party would be greatly affected. As they say, the rich always stays rich while the poor stays poor. This is because most of the rich people know how the system is being run. They are the system and so they know their way around things .

You wouldn’t believe that most rich people who own huge companies use some community development projects to evade taxes. If you’re not told, you’d never know. But the poor man who doesn’t know anything about this would keep on paying taxes he doesn’t even know about because he’s being taxed indirectly. It’s really sad but that’s what it is and this is why we are always advised to learn and know more.

Taxes are very important for a country’s development but then, let’s not charge our citizens more than they can afford. Everyone deserves to live a good life and it would be really unfair on the side of the government to tax the rich and poor equally. Fairness is very important when it comes to such matters.

all images belong to me.