How do I handle black tax?

Treat family support as a purpose with its own money, not as something paid from whatever is left. Decide a monthly amount on payday, send regular support on fixed dates, and keep a capped amount for urgent requests. Then you can keep giving without borrowing to do it.

What does black tax mean?

People in Nigeria and across Africa use “black tax” for the money working people send to support parents, siblings and extended family. Many prefer to call it family support: it's a real cost, and for most people it's also a choice they're proud of.

My family keeps asking for money. What can I do?

Give requests a place to land. Keep a monthly amount for urgent requests in its own budget, and answer from that budget instead of your salary. When it's used up, you can say so honestly, and the next payday refills it.

How much should I give my parents each month?

Start from what you can give every month without borrowing: add up your fixed costs and everyday spending, and see what's left. A smaller amount that arrives on the same date every month is often more useful to parents than a larger amount that comes at random.

How do I say no to family asking for money without feeling guilty?

It helps to have already decided. When your support has a monthly amount and a date, a new request isn't a test of your love; it's a question of whether this month's budget can carry it. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's next month.

Can I send money to several family members automatically?

Yes. One Delight automation can pay several recipients, with the same or different amounts, on a schedule such as monthly on a date. You can also ask Delight to check with you before each payment goes out.

How to support your family without running out of money

By Samuel Anwakang, Co-founder of Delight•Updated 27 September 2026

Family support strains a salary when every request is decided on the spot, from the same money as rent and food. Decide what you can give each month, keep it in its own budget and send regular amounts automatically. When a new request comes, the question becomes whether the family budget can carry it, not your whole salary.

Why family support strains a salary

Supporting parents, siblings and relatives is one of the most honourable things people do with their money. The strain doesn't come from giving. It comes from how the giving is decided.

Most family support isn't planned. It arrives as a call, a voice note, an "urgent 2k", a school fees emergency, a hospital bill. Each request is decided on the spot, from the same balance that holds rent and food, often with guilt pulling one way and the month's bills pulling the other. By the end of the month, you've given more than you meant to, and something else has gone short.

The pressure is real, and research across Africa has measured it:

In rural Kenya, women gave up expected earnings to keep income hidden from relatives. The implied "tax" from sharing pressure was above 4%, and it nearly doubled when relatives could see their income.^[1]
In urban Senegal, obligations to share income worked like a tax of about 9%.^[2]
In Cameroon, some cooperative members borrowed against their own savings, at real cost, to look as if they had no money and avoid requests.^[3]
In Kenya, about a third of entrepreneurs in one study faced pressure to share income strong enough to change their business decisions.^[4]

None of this shows people don't want to help. It shows the pressure is strong enough that people pay to manage it. And there's encouraging evidence too: in Côte d'Ivoire, factory workers who could keep part of their earnings in private blocked accounts worked and earned more, and they didn't reduce what they sent to others.^[5] Structure helped both sides.

What unplanned giving costs

An illustration.

	Planned	What actually happened
Monthly support to parents	₦40,000	₦40,000
A sibling's school fees emergency		₦20,000
Two "urgent 2k" requests		₦4,000
An uncle's hospital bill		₦15,000
Total family support	₦40,000	₦79,000

The extra ₦39,000 didn't come from nowhere. It came out of food, transport or rent money, which is how helping family turns into borrowing before payday.

What makes family support sustainable, with or without Delight

Decide a monthly amount on payday. The amount you can give every month without borrowing, after rent, bills and everyday spending.
Split it in two: regular support that goes out on fixed dates, and a smaller amount for urgent requests.
Send regular support on the same date every month. Parents and relatives can plan around money that arrives reliably.
Answer requests from the urgent amount, not your salary. When it's used up, it's used up until the next payday, and you can say so honestly.
Share the load where you can. If siblings also support your parents, agree who covers what, so no one person carries every emergency.
Keep it visible. A labelled amount for family is easier to protect. In Kenya, labelling savings helped most for people who were often asked for money by friends and relatives.^[6]

Set it up in Delight

Create a Family budget with your monthly amount. If you want the split, make Family a group with two sub-budgets: "Parents" for regular support and "Urgent requests" for the capped amount.
Let payday fund it. Check that Auto-fund is enabled on each budget, then set the order under Funding priority, so family support fills alongside rent and bills, before everyday spending.
Automate regular support. Open the Automate tab, or tap Automate on the budget, and choose Bank transfer. Add one or many recipients, such as Mum, Dad and a younger sibling, with the same or different amounts. Choose a schedule, such as monthly on the 26th. The first payment must be at least 30 minutes away.
Choose whether to approve each payment. You can ask Delight to check with you before each payment goes out, or let it run on schedule.
Answer urgent requests from their own budget. Send from "Urgent requests". Its balance is your answer: when it's used up, it refills on the next payday.
Share a budget with the person who manages things at home, if it helps. You can share a budget with up to 3 other Delight users. They can spend only what's in that budget, never your wallet or your other budgets, and every payment shows who made it under "Spent by".
Look back each month. The Monthly Recap shows where last month's money went, so you can see what family support really cost and adjust the amount.

Or set it up in one message

Send this to Delight AI in the app. It asks for your amounts, shows every step and waits for your approval.

Help me set up family support I can keep up. Create a Family budget and a monthly automation to the people I support. Ask me who, how much and when.

Delight AI is off until you turn it on in Settings › Customize › Delight AI. Anything that sends money out asks for your transaction PIN.

Free to download. No subscription.

What Delight can’t do

Delight can't decide how much you give. That's between you and your family. It holds the amount you choose and sends it on time.
Bank transfers carry the standard charge. Sending to someone's bank account carries the standard Nigerian transfer charge, and stamp duty on transfers of ₦10,000 or more. Transfers to other Delight users have no charge.
A scheduled payment needs money in its budget. If the Family budget is short when a payment is due, it won't go through. Delight tells you about 30 minutes before, so you can add money.

Questions people ask

How do I handle black tax?: Treat family support as a purpose with its own money, not as something paid from whatever is left. Decide a monthly amount on payday, send regular support on fixed dates, and keep a capped amount for urgent requests. Then you can keep giving without borrowing to do it.
What does black tax mean?: People in Nigeria and across Africa use “black tax” for the money working people send to support parents, siblings and extended family. Many prefer to call it family support: it's a real cost, and for most people it's also a choice they're proud of.
My family keeps asking for money. What can I do?: Give requests a place to land. Keep a monthly amount for urgent requests in its own budget, and answer from that budget instead of your salary. When it's used up, you can say so honestly, and the next payday refills it.
How much should I give my parents each month?: Start from what you can give every month without borrowing: add up your fixed costs and everyday spending, and see what's left. A smaller amount that arrives on the same date every month is often more useful to parents than a larger amount that comes at random.
How do I say no to family asking for money without feeling guilty?: It helps to have already decided. When your support has a monthly amount and a date, a new request isn't a test of your love; it's a question of whether this month's budget can carry it. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's next month.
Can I send money to several family members automatically?: Yes. One Delight automation can pay several recipients, with the same or different amounts, on a schedule such as monthly on a date. You can also ask Delight to check with you before each payment goes out.

For your situation

Sources

[1]Jakiela, P., & Ozier, O. (2016). Does Africa Need a Rotten Kin Theorem? Experimental Evidence from Village Economies. The Review of Economic Studies, 83(1), 231–268.Setting: Rural Kenya.
[2]Boltz, M., Marazyan, K., & Villar, P. (2019). Income hiding and informal redistribution: A lab-in-the-field experiment in Senegal. Journal of Development Economics, 137, 78–92.Setting: Urban Senegal.
[3]Baland, J.-M., Guirkinger, C., & Mali, C. (2011). Pretending to Be Poor: Borrowing to Escape Forced Solidarity in Cameroon. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 60(1), 1–16.Setting: Cameroon (credit cooperatives).
[4]Squires, M. (2024). Kinship Taxation as an Impediment to Growth: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Microenterprises. The Economic Journal, 134(662), 2558–2579.Setting: Kenya (entrepreneurs).
[5]Carranza, E., Donald, A., Grosset-Touba, F., & Kaur, S. (2025). The Social Tax: Redistributive Pressure and Labor Supply. Econometrica, 93(6), 2273–2308.Setting: Côte d'Ivoire factory workers (plus cross-country survey).
[6]Dupas, P., & Robinson, J. (2013). Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments. American Economic Review, 103(4), 1138–1171.Setting: Kenya.

Plan the money. Fund the plan. Spend from the plan.

In Delight, each purpose is a budget that holds its own money, and every payment comes from the budget it serves.