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In a democracy, people are citizens.

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This means that we have rights, but we also have duties.

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In order to contribute to the common good, people must fulfill their civic obligations

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because otherwise society would not work.

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Let's talk about these civic duties that are extremely important.

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First of all, everybody should respect other people's rights.

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That's our first duty in a democracy.

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But we must also respect public property, like transports, or schools, or hospitals

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that belong to everyone.

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There are other obligations.

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For example, we should defend democracy when it is at risk, or we should participate in

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politics because if nobody participates, if nobody cares about politics, democracy will

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not work.

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And there is a very important civic duty, which is our obligation to pay our taxes.

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Taxes are essential.

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They are the way to gather money that we need in order to pay for public services, for teachers,

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for policemen, for firefighters, or for doctors.

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All these things are necessary in order to make our society work, and we can only finance

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them if people pay their taxes.

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So paying our taxes is a basic civic duty.

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Taxes can be direct or indirect, and you should know the difference between them.

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Direct taxes are taxes that are paid for what you own, for your property.

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For example, if you have a house, you should pay taxes on the house, or if you earn a certain

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amount of money, you should pay a tax depending on how much money you earn every year.

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These direct taxes are different to indirect taxes.

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Indirect taxes are not on what you own, but are on what you buy.

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For example, when you buy something at a store, there is a part of the money that you pay

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that is a tax.

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It is called the VAT, the value-added tax, and it is a tax that you pay because you're

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buying something.

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Both direct and indirect taxes are essential in order to gather money, and taxes also must

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be progressive.

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This means that not everybody should pay the same amount of taxes.

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That would not be fair.

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So in general, many countries have what we call progressive taxes.

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Progressive taxes mean that rich people pay more than poor people.

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Depending on how much money you earn, how rich you are, the percentage of this income

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that you have to pay as a tax is increased progressively.

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That's why it's called the progressive taxing system, which tries to achieve fairness, which

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tries to be just, making rich people pay more than poor people.

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Contributing to the common good is not only about doing our civic duties.

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It is also about participating, participating in civil society.

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Civil society is formed by associations that do not depend on the government, do not depend

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on the state, and that articulate what citizens do in order to create a rich society.

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For example, NGOs belong to civil society, as also do spontaneous associations, for example,

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of neighbors or friends that create a band or create a football team.

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That's part of civil society.

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Civil society has a key role in order to preserve our institutions and our way of life because

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they articulate the needs and desires of citizens, and they become a very important part of our

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social coexistence.