Studying Taxation

There are two things in a man’s life that are inevitable: (a) death, and (b) taxes. If taxes are inevitable, then one
must know the answers to the questions: (a) What taxes must I pay? and (b) How much are the taxes that I
should pay?

One does not learn taxes from a light reading of a printed material that heralds a new tax, or a radio or
television broadcast, or from an on-line communication. Learning taxes is a conscious effort to learn what a tax
is, what is the purpose of a tax, who are and who are not required to pay it, and if required to pay, how to
reckon the amount, and what are the financial consequences and penalties for not paying the tax. One must
begin his study on taxes while still young and his or her mind receptive to serious studies.

Learning taxes comes from a good mix of the materials from which knowledge is sourced, the student, and the
teacher.

The teacher must be a pleasant teacher – the students of the class must be enticed to study and join discussions,
put forward their thoughts, argue on their conflicting thoughts, and arrive at acceptable conclusions. Should the
teacher be not a pleasant teacher, will it mean that the student will not learn? The student will still learn,
provided the learning material and the student aspiring to learn are still there. “Self-study” will be the call of
the moment. There are many brilliant persons who are products of “self-study”.

The materials from which knowledge is source, or the book, must be in simple and almost conversational
English language, will illustrations in words and numbers, and with computations being in simple additions,
subtractions, multiplications and divisions. The chapters of the book must be short, and the text must be in
varying font size and, for emphasis, with bold, italicized or underlined words. Arrows may be used to show
relationships of items within a page. Monotony in reading the book can be avoided if there are pages where
important discussions are boxed. Portrait and landscape present-ations of rules are useful.

The student? The student need not be a “gifted” student. An “average” student can learn Taxation if he accepts
the fact that taxation is something that he must learn - he must not have a negative attitude on the subject. From
zero level, knowledge of taxation must be raised to a higher level of understanding. He must study on a day he
has a class on taxation, lest a day’s class discussion that he cannot understand will cause him to be discouraged,
and he may lose interest on the subject. He must join the free discussion on the topic on taxation of the day that
the class meets on the subject. He must feel that he progresses with his contemporaries in the class - “that he is
not being left behind”.