Posted on blogger Hu Chan’s site, by an anonymous writer, translated by CDT:
Today is the deadline for reporting personal taxes if annual income is above RMB 120,000. I look at the calendar and felt a struggle in my heart. I’m not sure if I should be serious, or I should be silent to show my resistance.
I make an income of RMB 150,000 yuan annually. My company withholds taxes for me. Over RMB 20,000 yuan were taxes contributed to the country. Taxes should be collected, as it is necessary for the government representing the people to carry out its public obligations. But collecting tax is collecting tax. Why does the government repeatedly announce they will punish anyone who reports their taxes late. This makes me angry. In return for our silence, the government is only more demanding. We get more squeezed after we ignore our rights. I want to advocate to everyone to ask: “Tell us. Where did our taxes go?!”
Not a cent is used for my medical care. I need to cover myself if I’m sick… Now I’m financially able to pay for my own medical care, but I’ve never seen a cent of my tax used for people who are too poor to pay for their medical care. There are innocent people appearing in newspapers and on TV asking for help everyday. Human life and health is so fragile under the pressures of the economy. Should I show my sympathy by donating money? I’ve paid so much tax. There are a lot of people like me who paid a lot of tax. Why not use our taxes to help people who are having difficulty? Why are they always crying on TV? Two thousand years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, seniors would be raised by the state after a certain age. I’ve heard the government celebrated that they received RMB three trillion yuan in annual taxes, but only tens of billions of yuan are subsidized to farmers. I wanna know, where did my taxes go?
My taxes are not used for education. My friends’ kids who are in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, or college need to pay all kinds of fees. My friends have never gotten a deduction because of their financial burden to support their family. There was an auction at the end of last year on CCTV. It was an honor to the country, but a shame to the country. Everyone is born equal. Why ask for donations from society for some children? Are the expressions on the faces of migrant workers’ kids intended to be exchanged for sympathy from the public? I’m lucky. My parents are still healthy. I don’t need to raise kids. If my parents need me to take care of them and my children need to go to school, I don’t know how much extra money I need to pay. So I wanna know, where do my taxes go?
I want to know if my taxes becomes the most expensive alcohol–Maotai and Wuliangye at dinner; I want to know if my taxes become the fresh flowers used for all kinds of big and small meetings. I want to know if my taxes become the bricks for building the image projects? I want to know if my taxes become the fun experience for the public servants’ overseas investigations? I want to know if my taxes become the comforts of luxury cars? I want to know if my taxes were given generously as a bribe? I want to know if my taxes were wasted by state-owned companies or became an accomplice to monopolize the market price? I want to know if my taxes pay for the bad debt in the banking system I want to know if my taxes turn into the salaries of the tax collectors who in return come to squeeze me?
