A pay TV channel aired a programme on Workers’ Day which focused on the so-called Black Tax.
I was not in front of my television at that time, but when I saw my timeline on social media going abuzz, I knew I had to check it out.
So it turns out, according to what I heard on the show, that every working person who is, in some way assisting a family member financially, is a black tax payer.
Some of my friends came out guns blazing, demanding to know how helping your family can be classified as black tax.
Others argued that as much they love helping out their families, it becomes a problem when the help becomes an expectation.
It is true what they say, one can never chose their family.
A friend of mine who grew up in the rural villages of Mpumalanga is an example I’d like to state. She went to school barefoot, as her family did not have much. After matriculating, she received a bursary from the provincial government and studied accounting. She is now a qualified Chartered Accountant living in Johannesburg.
As the first and only graduate to come out of her home, she “had to” take care of her family financially. She told me once that her ex-fiancé was unhappy about the fact that she was sending money home and taking her younger siblings to school.
The story about Togo-born soccer start, Emmanuel Adebayor, was disturbing for me as well.
This had me thinking, is it a must for black professionals to support family, both immediate and extended, financially once they have “made it”? Who determines how much help one must offer to one’s family?
A Nigerian woman living in Europe posted a video about a month ago complaining about families that “suck them dry” for money every chance they get.
She lambasted family members for asking for money not only when they need to cover necessities. She said some even demand money to buy expensive shoes and they complained when she tells them she does not have it.
Personally, I do not see anything wrong with helping out a family in need. I do, however, think people take it too far.
People will look at the car you drive and the suburb you live in and decide you have too much money, enough to share with the whole lot.
May young professionals not use this as an excuse to not help their families. At the same time, can families also learn to draw the line. You cannot live off your nephew, niece, son, daughter or whatever they are to you simply because they have money. They have their own business to take of too.
