The payment of tax is the responsibility of every citizen of a country. Tax is a way of generating funds by the government which is then used by the government for the development of the society. Most countries practice this act and this has really been helpful in generating additional funds for the government which is helpful in developing new infrastructure for the benefit of the citizens.
In my country, Once a citizen clocks 18 years of age he or she is entitled to payment of tax. The main challenge here is that "Is the government using this tax being paid judiciously and mainly for the benefit of the citizens?" This is the question every citizen keeps on asking day by day. Taxes are being paid regularly by citizens yet there is no noticeable infrastructure development in the society.
There are a lot of social amenities that needed to be done within the society yet nothing was done by the government. The masses kept on suffering from bad roads, poor water supply, and poor electricity. Even the health system is not encouraging at all. Lot of masses has lost their life as a result of poor health care facilities. Then the question is "What is the government using the tax been paid for?"
Many citizens are not even motivated to pay taxes anymore due to the nonchalant attitude of the government toward the needs of the people. The detetoriating state of social infrastructures is becoming alarming day by day. However, most civil servant had no choice because the tax is automatically deducted from their monthly salary.
The problem is not majorly on the percentage of tax being paid by the rich or poor but majorly on how the funds being generated are managed and spent by the government. The citizens kept on paying taxes yet there is no development of new infrastructure by the government.
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In my own opinion, I will encourage that payment of tax should based on the percentage of income being earned by the citizen. As we all know, the state of the economy is getting worse day by day and the masses are struggling to make ends meet. So I believe that there shouldn't be equality of payment of tax by the rich and the poor, there should be a slight difference. If there is equality in the payment of tax, the poor will end up suffering more due to their low income.
In other to make life easier for the poor I will encourage that the payment of tax should be based on the percentage of the income of the citizen. I believe this will help in lessening the burden on the poor.
In conclusion, I will advise the tax being paid by the citizens should be used in the development of social infrastructure that will be of benefit to both the rich and the poor. I believe if the government can put this in place, this will motivate and encourage the citizens to pay their taxes regularly.