Day 102: Tax time = Free money!!
Students will be able to analyze a text for argument, evidence, and fallacies.
Today we took a few minutes out of bell work time to discuss the federal income tax. Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the sixteenth amendment that granted the government the right to have an income tax. I brought this up in class because I was working on our taxes last night so it was on my mind, and also because I expected this was an adult concept most of my students wouldn't understand. A few kids who worked part-time knew it was money the government took from each paycheck, but all morning I heard a variation of the phrase, "And in April they give it all back." To my part-time students this is true, but many seemed to have this idea that tax time was when the government gave out free money.
As a result, I spent about six minutes giving a simplistic rundown on how taxes work - how their parents list them as dependents, how you get money back if you earned too small an amount or if you overpaid, and how people get deductions for things like charitable giving, college, and buying a house. The goal was that they understood that most of the time, that money they get back was theirs in the first place, not a reward for doing your taxes.
Also, while I didn't have any near-death experiences today, I did lean back too far in my chair and managed to dip my hair in my scentsy warmer. I now smell like cucumbers and lime. Oh yes, and I have green wax in my hair. Happy times.
Today we took a few minutes out of bell work time to discuss the federal income tax. Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the sixteenth amendment that granted the government the right to have an income tax. I brought this up in class because I was working on our taxes last night so it was on my mind, and also because I expected this was an adult concept most of my students wouldn't understand. A few kids who worked part-time knew it was money the government took from each paycheck, but all morning I heard a variation of the phrase, "And in April they give it all back." To my part-time students this is true, but many seemed to have this idea that tax time was when the government gave out free money.
As a result, I spent about six minutes giving a simplistic rundown on how taxes work - how their parents list them as dependents, how you get money back if you earned too small an amount or if you overpaid, and how people get deductions for things like charitable giving, college, and buying a house. The goal was that they understood that most of the time, that money they get back was theirs in the first place, not a reward for doing your taxes.
Also, while I didn't have any near-death experiences today, I did lean back too far in my chair and managed to dip my hair in my scentsy warmer. I now smell like cucumbers and lime. Oh yes, and I have green wax in my hair. Happy times.
Comments
Post a Comment