** intro **

Yeah so I already know every country got their own tax system. That’s just how governments run the whole “money extraction DLC” in real life.

And yeah, places like Scandinavia get brought up a lot. High taxes, like 40–50% or even more depending on income bracket. Sounds insane on paper, right? But the difference is, it’s actually visible. Like you pay that and suddenly life upgrades—healthcare works, public transport is clean, education is solid, infrastructure doesn’t look like it survived three wars and a typhoon at the same time. It’s like you’re paying for a subscription and actually getting the features unlocked.

So even if it hurts, at least there’s that “oh ok, I see where my money went” feeling. Painful but transparent.

Now over here though?

Bro… my “great motherland” got taxes like they’re running a surprise attack campaign on your wallet 24/7.

It’s not even just “income tax” and go home. Nah. It’s layered. It’s stacked. It’s like a microtransaction system in a game that already costs you your sanity.

You get hit before you even realize you got hit.

Like you earn money? Boom—income tax already took its cut before you even emotionally processed your paycheck.

You spend money? Boom—VAT (Value Added Tax) sitting there like “hey bro I’m 12% of everything you enjoy, nice to meet you.”

And VAT isn’t even shy about it. It’s in groceries, gadgets, food, transport, everything. You basically can’t exist without it tagging along like an unpaid passenger.

Then you’ve got stuff like withholding tax, business taxes, import taxes, local fees, document fees, “processing fees” (which somehow process nothing except your patience), and random charges that feel like they were invented during a meeting that started with “how can we make this slightly more annoying?”

And don’t forget travel tax. That one is wild. You’re literally just trying to leave the country—like “yo I need a break, mental health, touch grass somewhere else”—and the system is like “cool, that’ll be extra.” Like freedom got a convenience fee now.

It’s giving: escape attempt = paywall.

Even basic life stuff has receipts stacked on receipts. You buy something cheap? Suddenly it’s not cheap anymore after taxes. You try to save? Inflation says “nah bro you funny for that.”

And the worst part is minimum wage reality. Because imagine grinding full-time, long hours, standing in heat, traffic, stress, all that… just to bring home a paycheck that already got carved up like it’s on a buffet table.

You’re not even touching the full amount you “earned.” It’s already been split like a group chat bill where everybody took your portion too.

Rent? Eats a huge chunk. Food? Keeps going up. Transport? Expensive and stressful combo pack. Bills? Always there like unskippable ads.

And wages? Yeah… those move like a loading bar stuck at 99%.

Meanwhile everything else is speedrunning inflation like it’s in a competitive lobby.

So you end up in this cycle where you’re basically working just to maintain your ability to keep working. Like you’re not leveling up life, you’re just trying not to get demoted.

And the frustrating part is the promise gap. You always hear about reforms, improvements, “better systems coming,” “long-term plans,” “future infrastructure upgrades,” all that political trailer footage.

But years pass and it still feels like the same map, same bugs, same lag spikes, same issues—just rebranded every election cycle like a patch note that didn’t actually fix anything.

At some point it stops feeling like contribution and starts feeling like forced participation in a system where the transparency bar is stuck on “trust me bro.”

And look—nobody is even saying taxes are bad by default. Taxes make sense. In a functioning setup, they’re literally what builds society. Roads, hospitals, schools, emergency services, all that important stuff.

The problem is when you don’t feel the return. That disconnect is what cooks people mentally. Like you’re paying into a pot but never seeing the meal.

So yeah, it’s not even about “I don’t want to pay taxes.” It’s more like “yo… what exactly am I funding right now?”

Because from the outside it just feels like constant deduction with unclear output.

** Moral of the story **

Yeah nah.

No lesson. No inspirational quote. No character development arc.

FUCK THIS SHIT I’M OUT.