I have to study accounting

SGGP 06/12/2023 08:15

Regardless of whether your child wants to go to a specialized school or not, in the final years of high school in Belgium, teenagers who are about to become young adults must learn basic accounting. Just talking about paying taxes and declaring taxes is a headache. Why do we force children to learn accounting and value added tax so early?

The reason is simple. Many Vietnamese people here choose accounting to retrain or continue their studies because this is one of the easy-to-find jobs (there is a shortage of workers) in Belgium. A friend of mine who used to work as a writer switched to accounting and found a job right in Brussels.

When asked, she said: "Just study and you will know the good of finding balance in life". According to statistics from taxfoundation.org, Belgium imposes personal income tax at 53.5%, still not in the top three countries with the highest income tax among OECD member countries in Europe: Denmark (55.9%), France (55.4%) and Austria (55%). Workers declare taxes and accept to pay high taxes for so many years, clearly need to know where the tax money goes?

I had a basic accounting textbook left by my daughter who had just graduated from high school, so I took it to the center to register. After studying, I understood more about the "screaming like a raging hill" of my fellow countrymen who run restaurants, supermarkets... when it was time to declare taxes, were fined for late tax payments, and lost thousands of EUR in tax refunds for very subjective reasons. After studying, I saw that the picture of the society where I live is reflected quite clearly through taxes and tax revenue.

With the title: "We pay 242 billion EUR in taxes to the federal government. Where does that money go?", the news broadcast on Belgian radio station VRT immediately received 26,000 views and more than 100 very detailed comments. Specifically, from this 242 billion EUR, the government only spent 4 billion (1.7%) on defense, 0.9 billion (0.04%) on immigration, 2.5 billion (1.03%) on law. These three items are noteworthy and account for the majority of spending from tax money: at the top are pensions (59.9 billion - equivalent to 25%), health care (43.3 billion - 17.8%) and education (31.6 billion - 13%). A group of Vietnamese people working for wages here also discussed this news. "The money collected from taxes is mostly used to pay pensions, proving that the aging population is increasing, no wonder the French government is determined to raise the retirement age". My friend, a nurse, is optimistic: "Looking at these numbers when I reach old age, I will feel secure about health care and pension conditions in Belgium"...

As for me, sitting in class, opening an introductory accounting book for high school, struggling to create a balance sheet, I gradually discovered the interesting thing that my compatriot who is an accountant in Brussels mentioned above. It is reasonable that a child should be taught how to assess the level of autonomy and plan for risks early before leaving high school. Life is no different from a balance sheet, both tangible and intangible values. We must determine what is important to prioritize investing time and effort, and reduce unnecessary and wasteful things to find the true value of balance.

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