Black Tax: Pay me back for raising you

The term Black Tax is not foreign at all to the entire working community – from plush offices in Morningside to warehouses in Isando.

Kudos to the inventor! The term is used frequently by mostly Millennials and recently, Born Frees.

It refers to a practice dating two decades or so back which involves a working individual with his immediate family members, the former expected to look after the latter, no questions asked.

Households are not equal and definitely not the same. With households that are economically equipped, there is less and less expectancy, quite the opposite in those that are not. The inequality which we occasionally continue to see today might have caused Black Tax. Before 1994, economic opportunities were reserved for a selected few, the same goes for living conditions that came with unfair mobility restrictions. Few managed to break free and make something out of the almost impossible situations, often paying a hefty price. If those economic opportunities were given to everyone, equally we would not be discussing terms like Black Tax today – of course debatable, but really before you debate think about it.

There were exceptions. Others created their own economy in their own communities making a decent living while others worked as domestic workers and many other small jobs and those who could afford it studied. It was tough for parents to educate larger offspring which was the case for a long time until the majority acquired education and the strength to break free from the unfair gender hierarchy and expectations enforced by societal and cultural rules that challenged their participation in the economy. The majority of children were put to schools by domestic worker salaries, factory salaries, mine salaries etc.

You can imagine what the parents went through to eradicate poverty, giving their children the best lifestyle they could afford. They had to. Because of this, some older children looked after the young ones financially, attending to their education and lifestyle needs so as to ease the burden a little once they made it. The cycle continued until few years ago when they realised they were often taken advantage of by parents and relatives. It was no longer about one making sure the family doesn’t go to bed hungry every night to financial demands every month, even when it is no longer necessary. Family relatives felt entitled to one of their own’s earnings.

They educated you so you can look after yourself and not experience the harsh realities of lacking a formidable tool to access meaningful opportunities not to pay them back they say. I guess this is not always true judging from what is happening in most households. Black Tax is something of an enigma if you dig deeper. But is it really? How did we quickly go from voluntarily helping at home to being forcefully expected to? Personally, I think families need to be honest with each other from day one – initiate honest conversation without attacking one another. Only then can we really understand our different roles in the family.