Nobody likes paying taxes. Every time a certain proportion of our income is deducted, there is a sense of loss. It is true that everyone pays indirect taxes, but it is chiefly the salaried class that is made to bear the disproportionate cost of keeping the wheels of government moving through their tax contributions. Middle class has always felt that they are the only section being squeezed further, and the rich do find ways not to pay taxes.
No doubt, taxation is the financial backbone of democratic governance, without which no modern state can deliver on its social contract. Yet the manner of its implementation has created deep alienation among the public. The resentment is exacerbated by visible inefficiencies in public services. Taxpayers navigate potholed roads, send children to private schools, rely on private health care, and maintain private security, wondering what exactly their tax money is funding.
Today the problem is that the relationship between the state and the citizen in matters of taxation remains stuck in colonial era patterns. Tax officials behave less like public servants and more like modern-day collectors for extractive raj. The silent message is that taxation is not your contribution to nation-building but your submission to state power.
Shafi Ahmed Khowaja
Hyderabad
