Your tax money at work
I recently saw our Freetown, Your Lordship, Mayor Albert George Williams (in photo). When I shouted him by his title, “Mr. Mayor Sir” he responded, “na una Tax money dae wok so.” I smiled and asked myself, what is he talking about? I still don’t get it, Mr. Mayor. What’s the accountability? Ha ha ha!!!
We now pay income tax, local taxes, GST which supposedly incorporates import sales tax, domestic sales tax, restaurant tax, message tax, entertainment tax, hotel accommodation tax and professional services tax, all to improve the standard of living of the average Sierra Leonean.
So where is all this collection of tax money going?
In other countries, tax money goes towards paying government workers, improving education, infrastructure, health care, taking care of the disadvantaged, the old and young, the disabled, refuse collection, national disaster, paying off the national debt and much more. However, governments are held accountable to produce statistics to the layman of where their tax money goes, what percentage and monetary amounts are paid.
Where does all our tax money go?Â
We should be provided with statistics, statistics that your average man/woman can understand, not wizardry of big words and reams of numbers to muddle the mind.
We are starting to see a few road structures and the free heath care for lactating mothers and children under 5, but is that it?Â
What about the people who have been forced to lose their homes in the name of development, where’s their compensation, is the government relocating them, is the government helping them to move and set up elsewhere? What about the people who have recently suffered the loss of their homes, or structural damage due to the recent severe storms and fire accident, certainly not on the scale of a national disaster like some countries in the world, but for Sierra Leone it’s a national disaster. Is it not up to the government to come and lend a hand and help its citizens?
We need to see some accountability for our tax money at work.
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