Where Are My Taxes….?
This week I spent fifty dalasis on waste disposal. I used to pay D10 for a bag of waste to be transported by donkey cart. Now though, each bag is fifty dalasi. This expenditure is rising on a regular basis and considering the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities in this country, one can imagine how one would loathe to spend such amount on something as basic as waste disposal.
I wondered therefore where my taxes go? We pay taxes to the government through various ways so as to ensure that the state has the resources it requires to serve the citizenry. If any citizen refuses to pay tax, or somehow manages to evade the tax collectors, such a person is not a goof citizen and could be prosecuted if caught. Similarly therefore it becomes the duty of the government to provide certain services to the people who pay taxes to put something in our national coffers.
I live in Bundung Borehole and for the past two years, I have not seen a single waste collecting vehicle from the Kanifing Municipal Council. Mr President, among the duties of a government is the utilisation of the taxes paid by the citizens to provide them services that improves their lives and uplifts them.
Granted, the government cannot do everything for the citizens of the country but at least the basic needs should be fulfilled. The provision of services like water, electricity, basic healthcare, collection and disposal of waste, cleaning the environment are some ofmost basic services citizens expect from a government to whom they pay tax. For the ease of providing these services, we, the Gambian people, have empowered you to set up various ministries, departments, agencies and so on. If therefore, one of these is not function as it should, the blame goes back to your government.
The failure of the KMC to quickly solve the problem of the Bakoteh Dumping Site remains an epic example of lack of knowhow, expertise or honesty on the part of its leadership. So when there I still have to pay for a donkey cart collect and dispose of spite of paying taxes, I wonder again:
Where are my taxes?
Have a Good Day Mr President….
Tha Scribbler Bah
A Concerned Citizen
