Articles/Reviews > More Articles > Paying taxes
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Paying taxes I thought it a good time to talk about tax as the 31st March was the end of the financial year for many people. It is good to think about tax yourself and explain it to your children. If you are not sure how to do that then try explaining it this way. Tax is money which individuals and organisations must pay to the Government as required by law. For people who are employed, tax is taken out of the money they are paid by their employer to do their job. For people who are self employed they must keep records of how much they earn and pay tax themselves direct to the Government. When someone is self employed they can deduct some legitimate expenses form their income (such as mileage for their car when it is used for their business). Often people grizzle about having to pay tax but forget the fact that the government uses the money to benefit the whole of the New Zealand community. Taxes pay for important public services like roads, welfare, healthcare and education, including paying people like teachers, police, nurses, doctors and providing an income for people who are unemployed. If people don’t declare all their income so don’t pay as much tax as they should the n there is less money available that the Government can used for the provision of these services.
For the year 2007/08 the Government spent 21% of its income on Health benefits, 17% on Education and 5% on Law and Order.
Sometimes it does us good to be thankful for what we do have. It can be a helpful exercise to research other nations to see how other countries receive and spend taxes. Children and adults can be surprised to find out there are many countries which not help people when they are out of work. There is often no unemployment benefit, no social security benefits, no pension, no family benefits or no sickness benefits. People just have to fend for themselves and find their own solution. As the saying goes “we don’t know how lucky we are!” But it is only possible so long as we all pay our fair share of taxes. Silbo Systems, conduct money lessons for parents together with their children in small groups. For information contact us. |
