Importance of Paying Taxes

Few activities are as important and hated at the same time as those that have to do with responsibility to pay taxes. It is largely from this that a State can collect and carry out different works or make decisions, especially regarding the wealth redistribution. Its importance is central to allow the most vulnerable sectors to have some kind of assistance.

Taxes have been a social duty since the first human societies

Although today we find ourselves thinking about the payment of taxes as something that we associate with modern States, we must recognize that this same action exists from the moment in which man was organized into more or less complex societies and those who governed or made decisions for all the others began to demand the payment of taxes or tributes.

Here it is important to point out that the payment of taxes was not always used for the benefit of the population. In Antiquity and for a long time in the Middle Ages, the payment of taxes had to do with the possibility of different reigning crowns to sustain their lifestyle, regardless of whether this meant leaving the population in the most destitute absolute. Thus, for example in ancient Egypt, the pharaohs demanded taxes that were later used in the

The advent of modern states and the change in tax mentality

As human history progressed, especially in the West, the mentality regarding the subject of taxes changed a lot. Thus, from the 19th century onwards, but mainly from the 20th century, the State took on a social role in many places that it has not been able to set aside, not even in the today and this has to do with the conception that those who govern us work for us and therefore must take care of satisfying our needs and the of all.

It is in this sense that the collection and payment of taxes becomes vital for a State since it is from this collection that can determine what works or improvements are carried out in different parts of the territory, if it can be carried out out a policy of modernization, if it is necessary to assist sectors in emergency situations, etc. Having this collection element gives the State freedom to maneuver and face different situations, as well as also to be able to get closer and closer to a real redistribution of wealth that no one but the State can manage.

Images: Fotolia – mknoxgray / marinabh