The Government Earned From My Graduation

People say there are only two inescapable things in life: death and taxes. And while I have been intimate with the dead or nearly dying countless times throughout med school, it was only after graduation, and upon commencement of my official adult life (because one is never an adult unless one can earn in this dog eat dog capitalist world)… that I started accumulating tax receipts. I am inspired to write this post by a whole day spent at the City Hall, paying the government to do its job (hey, I thought it was election that gave that mandate?), using the ATM every now and then (which indirectly pumps government assets as well, since I use a state-owned bank), and trying to avoid the omnipresent fixers. As I look back at old receipts, it became obvious that I have spent thousands of pesos for documents since I graduated from med school, and that most of these payments were made to government offices or operations. It goes without saying that I am hoping that the money (my money!) will be used for worthwhile government projects and not to some politician’s gambling fund. Here’s a list based on saved receipts and memory: