One sight that often annoys me is when I encounter tax collectors being a pest and nuisance to the citizens, especially the transport workers, this is a very common happening in Lagos Nigeria, where I reside, Tax collectors forcefully collect taxes every day. But the results of tax paid are hardly ever seen, one begins to wonder why they put in so much effort to make sure no one passes without paying their tax or face a more expensive fine.
The act itself of paying tax isn't what bothers me as it is a part of our civic duties but when these taxes are diverted to fund their luxury lifestyle while the masses are still left to provide basic amenities for themselves when all of those have already been deducted from our income and goods we purchase. Because the taxing system has been done in a way that there is no way you can avoid paying directly or indirectly.
Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa, so there is no denying that taxes paid are enough to go a long way to build the infrastructure we need and are currently lacking. Health Care for instance which is a very important need for all citizens of different ages is still far behind in providing quality health service, a lot of us still end up paying for drugs, consultations, and other services which is supposed to be offered for free or at a low cost.
In a more developed country, the government-owned hospitals are usually the most preferred because of the high standard of quality health service provided, but due to the lack of good pay for the doctors over here, they would rather relocate to a more developed country with governments that prioritize their skills and pay them well than stay and suffer in Nigeria, this has made us lose so many competent hands to other countries.
Our government should prioritize this need as health insurance taxes were supposed to go fir this.
What about the roads, though there have been improvements in this aspect compared to many years back, this is exclusive to my state of residence as so many other States and federal roads are in terrible states, which often leads to ghastly accidents, not making road transport safe for us.
The aspect of security is also another major aspect the government needs to focus on, as security in Nigeria is still a shaky body, we spend more on security personnel and gadgets to keep our lives and property safe, but still, we don't sleep with two eyes closed, especially for those living in the north, our taxes sure needs to be directed here as well.
And last but not least of problems our government needs to tackle with our taxes instead of loading their personal accounts is the issue of power supply, I've written about this issue more than I can count, in this era, electricity is supposed to be stable, but yet we go days, some even months with no electricity in sight, how then should we feel more encouraged to keep on paying monthly light bills, enough is enough! Let our tax start working.