What are taxes?
My almost-four-year-old saw the TurboTax boxes and asked "what’s that?"
"It’s a program for the computer to help us figure out our taxes."
"What are taxes?"
Hmmm. Most people would probably just have said something to the effect of whatever money you make, the government takes a piece of, and that’s taxes. But being a person who believes that government is, by and large, a useful thing to have around, I didn’t want to leave my answer at that. So I plunged ahead:
"Well, there are some things that everyone wants, but that are too expensive for anyone to buy by themselves. Like roads. Wouldn’t it be silly if you had your own road and I had my own road and daddy had his road, and they went the same place, and we didn’t share? So instead, we all put our money together to build a road that we can all use, and that’s what taxes are."
January 17th, 2005 at 8:49 am
As a former wonk myself, am I sniffing a little libertarian child-rearing over here? I love it. Anyway, I just discovered your blog and have been enjoying it. Keep it up.
January 17th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
Ooh, I LOVE your explanation. Perfect for the age.
Lovely blog you have, BTW.
January 18th, 2005 at 9:30 am
But Mommy, why is it that everyone wants more and more but also thinks they should chip in less and less?
I think there are a lot of adults out there who would also benefit from your explanation. 🙂
January 18th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
Great explanation! I should bookmark that and save it for when my kid’s old enough to ask that question. I agree with V.H. that there are plenty of adults who could stand to have it broken down this way too.