A Very Real Problem

 

 

People would owe the Government

But pay private enterprise,

And when the country gets in trouble

Pretend they are surprise.

 

Government on the other hand

Makes it difficult to collect

By the long queues waiting to pay

Which people definitely reject.

 

It has become harder to pay a tax

Than obtaining the money to pay,

Don’t bother to pay the tax

Is what Government seems to say.

 

And they do not seem to mind

When the people fret and complain

For rather than make it easier

They simply add to the pain.

 

I know governance is not easy

But collecting the taxes should be

Since the services Government offers

Depends on people’s money.

 

 

The more they dissuade the people

The more difficult it is to collect

And the behavior of some public officers

Smacks of gross disrespect.

 

You can get the distinct impression

You are in a line of beggars

Given the treatment you receive

From modern day tax collectors.

 

They act like the high and mighty

Like leaders in the Government

And your wait can become much longer

If their behavior you resent.

 

 

Consider your taking time off

From wherever you are employed

And standing in a line for hours

And being treated like a boy.

 

Like you are there for amusement

And your business does not matter

Hence, occasionally you are ignored

As they persist in useless chatter.

 

And you had better not interrupt

If you know what is good for you

For with a flounce and a curt dismissal

You’d have a longer wait in queue.

 

 

I can tell you of an experience

That I am sure it would blow your mind

But this is such a small country

That this would be definitely unkind.

 

For your mind would go a wandering

To a public officer that you know

And you most probably would be wrong

Especially if that one is not so.

 

So enough said at this point

And besides, this is not about persons

But of the difficulty experienced

When paying our needed subscriptions.

 

For indeed taxes are subscriptions

For the services that we receive

Which are rendered by our Government

As part of the social deal.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019