Why must we pay taxes? The answer is that the government needs money for many things, for example, to pay its soldiers, sailors and airmen, to build roads, bridges, offices, schools, or to buy goods from abroad. And only the people of the country can supply the money. One of the most important taxes is income tax which a person pays according to the amount of his income, whether he is a merchant, a doctor, a lawyer, a shopkeeper, or anything else. This is called a " direct " tax, because it is paid in money directly to the government. Another tax is paid on goods such as watches, jewelry, new clothes, tobacco, wine and so on, when they are brought into a country. such a tax is paid as part of the price of these goods if they are later sold in shops. We call it "indirect "tax, because it is paid indirectly through the shopkeeper.