Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.222.115.120
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
In Kenya, they are called value-added taxes, “yani VAT”. They change and increase every year And are placed on everything under the sun. The prices increase daily, But they say it would lead to everyone paying their fair share of tax. They are better referred to as poverty taxes, Because they punish the poor to become the poorest, They entrench selfishness among the neighbours and friends, They take away the only saving of the poor in the society, and one wonders why the poor remain the poorest. The tax takes the homes, The mortgages become unaffordable, The rent skyrockets in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, While the gas prices become unbearable. The cars and bus rides become a luxury, and our lunches are taken from our mouths. The tax man is always on the door, You wonder if you are under some emergency evacuation. Taxman takes every percentage of your hospital bill, Or school fee, or your child’s pocket money, or church tithe offerings, Until there is nothing positive to take away. Worst of it, the bills and penalties are always in your postal mail. The services offered at government offices are poor. The civil servants are rude to the core like vampires. The infrastructure development is wanting, The electricity blackouts in rural areas are frequent, Education facilities not well equipped, Health facilities are rotting from inadequate funding, and any innovation is suspiciously viewed as a threat. The tax man never explains where is the tax, Nor what development activities were completed. The poor’s voice can’t be heard yet everything is taxed. The poor continue to be taxed to poverty, While the tax man feeds the corrupt all the taxes.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required