I learn a lot about a person from the way they talk about black tax. The thing about throwing culture away is that the juice always goes with the grapes.
Black tax is the product of “it takes a village”.
Back in the day, maybe not that way back, communities pooled resources to elevate the most promising child, in the hopes that the child would make it out, gather knowledge and resources, and return to uplift the village.
It was like gathering all the chips and betting it on this one teenage horse and hoping to strike gold.
As families have gradually continued to nuclearise, the resource pool has also continued to shrink to the immediate family.
Parents make sacrifices, take multiple jobs and extra shifts, swallow their dignity, just to make sure their kids achieve their dream.
So it pains me when I see young people bemoan the fact that they have to give back.
As a beneficiary of this communal sacrifice, I wear the black tax as a badge of honour.
Any time I want to complain about funds leaving my account, I remember the sacrifices made on my behalf. I remember how deep my parents had to dip into their coffers to make sure I never lacked in a foreigner’s home.
I remember the relief of shrugging that 100-kg weight off my shoulder every time my phone chimed from that SWIFT alert on the 24th of every month. It wasn’t a fortune, but that ding was my lifeline.
Now that the sacrifices have started paying off, I can’t in my right mind refuse to pay my black tax to the people who went without so I could live with dignity.
Don’t tell me about savings when the people who saved me are struggling to make ends meet.
Not like I don’t get where the frustration is coming from. Blacktaxing can destroy your finances. Leeches will latch onto the crumb they gave you and expect a baker’s dozen. Like you owe them your life.
That sense of entitlement is maddening. You start to feel taken advantage of. People will call you ungrateful for refusing their umpteenth irrelevant request for a handout.
That’s where you use your power to say NO…and stand by it.
But please, pay your black tax back and pay it forward.
I have never agreed with black tax and maybe I’m just a disgusting , ignorant ingrate
But, I always say that Giving birth is a selfish pursuit… selfish because there is no reason for having children that has any thing to do with the child, it’s all about the parents…
Just close your eyes and think of any reason why people give birth, bet you’ll never find one that benefits the child
Anyway, my point is… if you want to have kids, just make sure you’re ready to provide for them to the best of your abilities and also plan your life so that you also are not burden to them when they grow up. Maybe I sound privileged but poor people shouldn’t be having children (I know, I’m a prick)
Sometimes in my head I feel like this is one of the reasons why YT people have a head start in life sometimes, ( topic for another day)
My parents obviously don’t think this way and I have to pay that black tax, but it ends with me. My children, if I have any will not pay any black tax, they should use that money build their lives so that their children don’t have to pay black tax too
I see your point, and I agree with most of it. Unforseen circumstances like declining health, war, financial crashes, etc., can deprive one of the ability to fend for themselves. The consequences are highlighted more in less-privileged communities, where the government doesn’t make provisions to cater for the most basic of human needs–hence the need for a “black tax” in the first place. But if the cycle can end with you, that’s a net positive for the world.