It's Tax Time!

If you listen closely to the adults you know, you may hear a lot of grumbling today. That’s because today is tax day. Usually tax day is April 15, but this year April 15 was a Washington, D.C. holiday and government offices were closed; therefore, Americans got an extra three days to pay their taxes.

What are taxes?

According to dictionary.com, taxes are “a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.”

There are different kinds of tax systems. Some places use what’s called a head tax or a poll tax. That means that every person pays the same amount of money, no matter who that person is, what that person earns, or how much that person owns. America uses a different tax system, one where people pay a percentage of whatever they earn.

There are also many different kinds of taxes:

Sales Tax: You pay this every time you go shopping, except when you buy groceries, which are not taxed because food is considered a necessity. If you buy a new t-shirt that costs $10.00, you will have to pay sales tax on it. If the sales tax in your city is 6%, you will need to pay $0.60 in addition to the price of your t-shirt, meaning that you will actually have to pay $10.60 for your t-shirt. This is sales tax.

Property Tax: People who own a house or an apartment pay property taxes every year. Property taxes are an amount of money that you pay to your local government based on the value of your house or apartment.

Income Tax: This is the one that's due today; people pay income tax by filing forms that tell the government how much money they earned during the past year and then by paying the government a percentage of that money. You have to pay income tax to the local, state and federal government (depending upon where you live; certain states, such as Florida, do not have local or state income taxes). You may already pay income taxes. You don’t have to be an adult to pay taxes; you just have to earn money! Ask your parents if you already pay taxes (they have to file the paperwork for you until you are 18).

Why do we pay them?

The most basic answer to this question is that we don’t really have a choice. Taxes are compulsory, which means we are required to pay them. If we don’t pay our taxes, we can be fined by the government (which means we will pay even more than we originally owed). If we don’t pay the fines, we can be sent to jail.

The real answer to this question is that without taxes our government could not afford to operate. Taxes paid to local governments help to provide money for local public schools and other local services such as sewers, sidewalks, parks and garbage collection. Taxes paid to the federal (national) government help to pay for all of the services that the federal government provides to United States citizens. Among the things that taxes fund are the government itself (salaries for the President and members of Congress, among other things), roads and bridges and other kinds of infrastructure, the armed services, and public health care (such as Medicare and Medicaid).

Taxes play a very important role in American history. The Revolutionary War began because colonists decided to rebel against what they called “taxation without representation.” Colonists were angry that they had to pay taxes to Great Britain even though they did not have any representatives in the British government and therefore had to say in what kinds of taxes they had to pay. Thus, they called for and ultimately created an America where people get to vote for their representatives in government and these representatives determine both what our taxes are and what they are used for.

So, when you hear adults grumble about paying their taxes, remember that without those taxes we wouldn’t have a country that provides free public education to every child, that helps people who don’t make enough money buy food for themselves, that pays for medical care for people over the age of 65 and for children who live in poverty. In short, we wouldn’t have the kind of country that people all around the world want to live in. And, ultimately, that’s why we pay taxes – so that we can live in America and benefit from everything it offers us.

Julie Simons

About the Author

Julie Simons

It's Tax Time! Julie Simons If you listen closely to the adults you know, you may hear a lot of grumbling today. That’s because today is tax day. Usually tax day is April 15, but this year April 15 was a Washington, D.C. holiday and government offices were closed; therefore, Americans got an extra three days to pay their taxes. What are taxes? According to dictionary.com, taxes are “a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.” There are different kinds of tax systems. Some places use what’s called a head tax or a poll tax. That means that every person pays the same amount of money, no matter who that person is, what that person earns, or how much that person owns. America uses a different tax system, one where people pay a percentage of whatever they earn. There are also many different kinds of taxes: Sales Tax: You pay this every time you go shopping, except when you buy groceries, which are not taxed because food is considered a necessity. If you buy a new t-shirt that costs $10.00, you will have to pay sales tax on it. If the sales tax in your city is 6%, you will need to pay $0.60 in addition to the price of your t-shirt, meaning that you will actually have to pay $10.60 for your t-shirt. This is sales tax. Property Tax: People who own a house or an apartment pay property taxes every year. Property taxes are an amount of money that you pay to your local government based on the value of your house or apartment. Income Tax: This is the one that's due today; people pay income tax by filing forms that tell the government how much money they earned during the past year and then by paying the government a percentage of that money. You have to pay income tax to the local, state and federal government (depending upon where you live; certain states, such as Florida, do not have local or state income taxes). You may already pay income taxes. You don’t have to be an adult to pay taxes; you just have to earn money! Ask your parents if you already pay taxes (they have to file the paperwork for you until you are 18). Why do we pay them? The most basic answer to this question is that we don’t really have a choice. Taxes are compulsory, which means we are required to pay them. If we don’t pay our taxes, we can be fined by the government (which means we will pay even more than we originally owed). If we don’t pay the fines, we can be sent to jail. The real answer to this question is that without taxes our government could not afford to operate. Taxes paid to local governments help to provide money for local public schools and other local services such as sewers, sidewalks, parks and garbage collection. Taxes paid to the federal (national) government help to pay for all of the services that the federal government provides to United States citizens. Among the things that taxes fund are the government itself (salaries for the President and members of Congress, among other things), roads and bridges and other kinds of infrastructure, the armed services, and public health care (such as Medicare and Medicaid). Taxes play a very important role in American history. The Revolutionary War began because colonists decided to rebel against what they called “taxation without representation.” Colonists were angry that they had to pay taxes to Great Britain even though they did not have any representatives in the British government and therefore had to say in what kinds of taxes they had to pay. Thus, they called for and ultimately created an America where people get to vote for their representatives in government and these representatives determine both what our taxes are and what they are used for. So, when you hear adults grumble about paying their taxes, remember that without those taxes we wouldn’t have a country that provides free public education to every child, that helps people who don’t make enough money buy food for themselves, that pays for medical care for people over the age of 65 and for children who live in poverty. In short, we wouldn’t have the kind of country that people all around the world want to live in. And, ultimately, that’s why we pay taxes – so that we can live in America and benefit from everything it offers us.
About the Author Julie Simons Julie Simons is the founder and president of Girl Future. She is passionate about helping girls find their voices so that they can achieve successful, independent futures. She'd love to hear from you via e-mail: julie@girlfuture.com.