There are many billboards around Liberia pointing out that taxes promote development. These billboards are put up with tax payers money to encourage people to pay taxes. The message on the billboards is not upheld by the evidence found in the history of Liberia. The immediate past government of Liberia and the present government of Liberia say that corruption is the number one enemy of Liberia. The previous government said that it worked hard to eradicate corruption but it was unable to stop it and so the previous government said that it was leaving it for the present government to handle.
Although the present government as an opposition political party said that it would handle corruption on the ground running, this government admits that corruption remains the number one enemy of Liberia. Corruption means the using of the funds of others for oneself. The present State uses the money of tax payers for the top officials of the government. Therefore, it is impossible for more taxes to mean development. For taxation to mean development, the taxes would have to used for the sustained improvement in the living standards of the people, especially the poor masses of the people.
The evidence on Liberia shows that taxes promote corruption because of the greed of the powers that be. Let us remember that the United States of America (USA) government, the main donor to the government of Liberia (GOL) just placed sanctions on top GOL officials, citing corruption as the main reason for the sanctions. But the donors are not sincere because just after the sanctions, they gave the GOL almost half a billion USD, including nearly 200 million USD from the USA and 88 million Euros from the European union (EU). To put kerosene into the fire, the sanctioned officials are campaigning to get elected in the October 2023 election.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The GOL is definitely showing that it talks anti-corruption but it does not walk the anti-corruption talk. Witness how the Liberian National Police (LNP) stood by while stones were being thrown at anti-corruption marchers less than a week ago, after the LNP had been informed legally about the march. Some street sellers said that the LNP action means that the GOL is promoting corruption rather than stopping corruption. What the street sellers are saying is true because when the LNP stands by and does nothing when an illegal act is being done, this means that the LNP, therefore the GOL, is promoting corruption.
According to the Law of Liberia, any illegal act can be stopped by taking action through the Rule of Law. The citizen or entity has to Walk The Talk to be taken seriously. The powers that be do not Walk The Talk and this is why the people of Liberia say that the GOL is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobaromter, 2020). But the people who love Liberia are continuing to Walk The Talk because nearly all of the National Legislators who wanted to be reelected from the 52nd and 53rd Legislatures, but did not Walk The Talk, were not reelected. To Walk The Talk is to talk against corruption and injustice and take action, through the Rule of Law, to stop corruption and injustice. The only way to stop corruption and injustice is for the raising of awareness to continue in ways that motivate people to work together through the Rule of Law to transform the prevailing unfair electoral system into the enduring fair electoral system. Through this transformation, persons with good records will get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.
