Taxes: a lot of money to do a lot of things!
Have you heard adults talk about a thing called “taxes”? Do you know what it is? Taxes pay for schools, roads, hospitals, people in need and much more. It is a sort of solidarity system which improves the life of all the residents. So, let’s learn about taxes and how they affect your life!
Warm up
With your buddy, think of all the things you just ‘get for free’. Are there streetlights and playgrounds in your area? What is in your area which has been paid with public money?
Where does the money for such things come from?
When you have answered these questions, imagine together how it would look like if there was no public money invested for the community.
How would that impact your life?
Learn
What is tax?
Meet 2QT(Toocute) - the robot from outer space who will introduce you to the concepts of tax and taxation.
Watch this clip with your buddy!
Dive in 1
Now that you watched the clip…
Answer the question that 2QT asked ith your buddy, :
- What do you think about taxes?
- Do you benefit from any of the things, which are funded through taxes? Which ones?
- Did you know you already pay taxes? How does it feel?
Make a list of reasons why it is important to pay taxes.
Dive in 2
Create 1
You and your buddy carry out brief interviews with your parents or other close adults you know. You can do it together or separately, but take notes and share the results!
Ask them the following questions:
- Do you benefit from public services? What public services do you benefit from?
- Should everybody pay privately for public services? Why should they? Why shouldn’t they?
- What do taxes help us accomplish?
Exchange the results with your buddy! Are there common answers you got? If you want to, you can create a chart with the results.
Create 2
- Think about all the things you own. If you bought them new, you have paid taxes for them. Make a short list of the most expensive objects you own.
- Name a relative price for each item, and then calculate how much 10%* of it is.
- Now add all the sums. This is a lot of money, isn’t it? What do you think you would do for your city with this money? Buy new trash bins or pay for table-tennis equipment at the park? Think of as many examples as you want!
Exchange with your buddy. Make a sum of your sums and decide what you would do with that money, if you were the mayor of your city. Make a presentation where you explain what you would do and why. Have it uploaded in the work.it area!
Reflect
Choose the most important point that you are taking away from this unit, for example: what has surprised you the most? What would you like to remember?
Create a postcard showing your point(s).
Download the free KIDS4ALLL app and your wish comes true!
