It's tough being a government official. People abuse you all the time and you have to stay polite. Well, here's the answer: respond with a nice dose of ice-cold irony.
Here's an example from a gentleman named Lee who works for the tax department in the UK, sent to me by reader Tom Marrin.
This is a true story. A UK citizen named Addison wrote to tell the tax office to stop sending him "begging letters". Taxman Lee replied: "I must take issue with your description of our last as a *begging letter'. It might perhaps more properly be referred to as a *tax demand'.
"This is how we at the Inland Revenue have always, for reasons of accuracy, traditionally referred to such documents."
Your comments:
I'm with you Nury! My stance is that you can't complain about the state of the country if you avoid paying your taxes.
Infrastructure, education and health care might be poor, but hey, most people hardly pay anything for it either!
Considering the fact that we all enjoy state-sponsored electricity and gasoline, we actually only start paying to the government after our tax bill exceeds the amount of sponsoring we receive for our energy. I'd be willing to pay more taxes to see Indonesia improve and solve some of its perennial problems!
Joss
Surabaya
Dear Nury, You are on the right path. Paying taxes is a wonderful feeling. Some Indonesians avoided paying taxes because the credibility of the previous ruling administrations was in doubt.
Fortunately for all us all the tide is turning (especially amongst the new generation); albeit too slow for some. This is a large country, like a large ship, U-turns take time but once the direction is changed, great advances are on the horizon.
Paying taxes is a slap in the face of corrupt officials because it preserves a system they try to destroy. You can do it Indonesia!
Ahmed A.
Jakarta
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