Letter to Camcordnews ⁰

Dear Cameroon Concord News

Help us to understand the new finance law many people are talking about. Francophone newspapers in Cameroon have spent a lot of time talking about the new taxes which will destroy Cameroonians and the economy but our own news platform has not yet shed light on this disturbing problem.

The parliament of Cameroon has been in session for weeks now and the law-makers of the country who are supposed to represent the population will be passing some new finance laws which might hurt many struggling citizens.

As ordinary citizens, we are yet to recover from the high prices caused by the pandemic. The stress and tension in the country arising from hardship are visible and many people are losing their lives due to hardship.

 Cameroonians are already paying taxes but not much is seen in terms development, especially concerning the building of infrastructure.

To my knowledge, taxes are not a bad thing. They can help a country to develop. In Western countries such as France and Great Britain, many people lose huge amounts of money to the state by way of taxes. I don’t live in the West but I read a lot about life abroad.

It is true that citizens in Western countries hate paying taxes, but they do admit that taxes go a long way in positively impacting their lives.

Good roads, hospitals and schools are some of the things which make westerners to accept some of the high taxes they pay.

There is also the issue of security. Where there is security, there is a tendency for people to settle there and security usually gets financed with tax money.

Cameroonians are afraid of taxes not because they do not know what taxes could do for a country if well used. Their fear comes from the fact that Cameroon does not have good roads, good schools and hospitals but the citizens get punished every day, every year with taxes.

Taxes are not bad, what makes Cameroon’s taxes bad is the way tax revenues are used. For now, not many people back home are talking about the new taxes and high cost of living.

Like many ordinary Cameroonians, I will like the Cameroon Concord News to shed light on this new burden that will be soon imposed on Cameroonians by a government that hardly renders account.

Thank you for helping our government to understand our pain and for helping Cameroonians to understand what is in that new finance law.

Ngah Jude in Bamenda