What Are Taxes?

What they’ll learn

Three things they’ll come away with.

• That taxes are the way everyone contributes to a shared pot, and the pot pays for things one person couldn't buy alone.
• What taxes pay for: schools, hospitals, roads, parks, fire engines, and a lot more.
• That different people have different opinions about taxes, and that's a normal, healthy part of how communities work.

Talk about it

Open questions that work.

• “If you and 9 friends each put 1 coin in a pot, what could you buy together that you couldn't buy alone?”
• “What's the most important thing taxes pay for, do you think?”
• “What would the world look like if there were no taxes at all?”

Try one thing this week

Pick one small thing.

Next time you get a shop receipt, look at the bottom together. Some receipts show a line for VAT; that's a tax that's already built into the price of (almost) everything you buy, even when it isn't printed separately. Make it a little hunt: see how many receipts you can spot it on this week.