By Narayan Prasad Mishra
Taxation is considered the lifeblood of any government. The government provides the necessary funds for public services and infrastructure development based on it. The allocated tax money is directly linked with the development and quality of services in a neighborhood. So, people are not unhappy to pay taxes because they know they are paying it for their own services. They know that if they do not pay taxes, the government cannot provide them with satisfactory services. This relationship between taxes and services is correlated and inseparable. From this point of view, we can undoubtedly say that tax money is the financial foundation for public projects and services. You get your every service – education, health, road, transportation, electricity, gas, water, etc from it. In essence, taxes are an investment in the well-being and progress of society. Without that, the government cannot construct and maintain essential infrastructure such as roads, bridges, parks, and utilities. Your reliable emergency services of any kind, health or police, sewage, electricity, or water, are provided through it.
In any country where there is a democratic, responsible government, the tax money is utilized and used in the most totally satisfactory way. No one with high or low positions, including the king, president, prime minister, ministers, or other officials, is supposed to misuse it. If someone does, one is bound to be punished. In developed countries, people are highly conscious of their democratic rights. They voice against any corruption or irregularities irrespective of your relationship or connection.
We also have a tax system in the country, just as other countries have. We also pay various taxes. Though I do not have businesses or industries, I have some great property–land, a house, and a small car. I need to pay vehicle tax, property tax, and land tax. Just recently, I paid Rs 39500 for owning my small car, Santro, and Rs.7000 for my tiny house and land as a property tax this year. Besides, we know we pay many other varieties of taxes when we buy and sell things directly or indirectly. We also pay six percent of our interest money to the government as an interest tax. This way, a lot of our money goes to the tax.
However, from our taxes, we hardly receive good services from government offices without bribing or engaging in other relationships in our country. Not only do we fail to receive the services we are entitled to, but we are often harassed even when paying taxes without the intention of seeking any advantage by giving money under the table. I am always saddened to recall the incident on November 2, 2022, when I was compelled to pay a significant amount of Rs 365,778 for my accumulated property tax, including land tax (Malpot Kar) for decades for which I had already paid, and was asked to present receipts from all past years against the established practice in the country. This occurred at my Kathmandu Ward Office 14. The reality is that we typically retain only the most recent receipt, which suffices even at the land registration office for land transactions. However, in this ward office, the officer named Hemanta did not listen to my explanation. I felt helpless, being an honest citizen of the country without any connection to political party leaders to seek assistance from. All of us have bitter experiences.
Similarly, we rarely see our tax money appropriately utilized for our services.
Almost every day, we hear and see cases of corruption, scams, and scandals, openly looting money through a variety of irregularities and misuses by politicians and government officials. In our country, most of our people lack civil sense. They keep quiet even when they witness corruption and irregularities committed by officials and politicians. Our politicians are also so self-centered and corrupt that they generally do not speak out against corruption when their friends and colleagues are involved. They raise their voices only when their opponents are implicated in corruption. People lack a democratic culture to appreciate things when there is a reason to appreciate and criticize things when there is a reason to criticize without bias. Therefore, we do not happily pay taxes.
Our country is poor, and the majority of people are poor. Our earnings are not high enough to meet our needs and necessities. On the other hand, our market price is very high for everything, even for foodstuffs. Our earnings are low, but we need to pay high taxes. We pay almost the same amount of money for chicken meat or eggs as the Americans pay for them in their country when we calculate by converting from the US dollar to the Nepali rupee. But everybody knows the standard of living of Americans, and their income is not comparable to that of poor Nepalese people. They are very high, and we are very low. They earn not less than $ 12 wages per hour on average, although the minimum wage varies from state to state. On the other hand, our daily bread earners earn Rs 100 wage per hour, which is much less than one dollar.
When we compare the government salary, the wages people earn, and the money they need to spend for minimum necessities for living in the country, we see that people can hardly meet the expenditure. The salary and wages should be the amount that should meet the minimum needs of a person. Here, it is not so. The salary, wages, and tax system are not based on a scientific system. That is the root cause of corruption in our country. However, the big corruption cases in which politicians and high officials are involved are different. That is not done because of poverty. We see that the root causes of this corruption are greed, a lack of honesty, morality, ethics, and a culture of impunity.
However, the government should improve to provide satisfactory utility services to the people and encourage them to pay taxes. At the same time, we must fix our salary, wages, and taxes scientifically with good study so that people can have a better life by working honestly. Most importantly, the government must have a program and policy to control high-level corruption with comprehensive measures, including promoting transparency, strengthening institutions, and fostering a culture of integrity and accountability at all levels of society. Otherwise, people will be forced to think that their tax money is not utilized properly and that there is no use in paying taxes.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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