Forbes describes black tax as the “practice where a successful black individual supports members of their immediate and extended family financially.”
This is the instance where you find a person either educating their sibling’s children, housing their aunt’s children, paying rent for a number of relatives, catering for food expenses for the grandparents or even handling financial matters for in-law family members.
In Kenya, black tax is often viewed as a burden, and conversations often revolve around how it puts financial and emotional strains on a person or relationships. What is even worse is that some individuals are actually forced into ‘paying’ black tax as a form of giving back to parents and guardians who took care of them in their formative years or doing so on a meagre to no salary without any fail.
Millions try to avoid paying this black tax and often come up with various excuses including having no source of income, having their own nuclear families to take care of, black tax dependents having capabilities of earning from their own sweat or even hiding money to appear poor.
But amid all these complaints that often strain or break relationships, there are some unthought of joys in ‘paying’ black tax. They include:
- Family bonds are strengthened because a sense of unity and shared purpose is shared within the family. What could even be better is that down the line, when you will be financially incapable or absent, the same family you helped could turn back and help your own family.
- Some people find a sense of fulfillment in paying black tax. They believe in “give and it will come back to you, full measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” and so have no qualms parting with money even when unplanned for. They believe in making a difference in people’s lives, believing that life, fate or a higher power will restore to them more than they gave.
- Believe it or not, paying black tax makes an individual learn financial responsibility. One learns how to budget, plan and prioritize their financial responsibilities in place where one simply attempted to live and share within monthly budgets. In this, an individual gains skills such as saving and balancing competing needs in both personal and professional lives.
- If an individual intended on being a figure head or a pillar of society within a community, paying black tax beyond family would be the quickest way for them to achieve this fete. Financial contributions made to the community position one as a key figure in uplifting others and impacting future generations.
