I woke up this morning the mother of an eleven-year-old. I’m still not sure how that happened. But I’m sure glad that it did.
Here’s what you need to know about my daughter, Kate. She’s super smart and pays attention to detail: in the fourth grade, she won an award for “best data presentation” at the science fair for the City of Philadelphia. She loves animals (especially horses and dogs) probably more than she loves people. Last month, she ran her first 5k with Girls on the Run and hopes to do another one. She also plays soccer and ice hockey. Yes, ice hockey.
She has a gift for telling stories and writing: while her younger sister seems destined for the stage, Kate has announced her intentions to become the next Mark Twain. In fact, she spends a lot of time thinking about what she wants to do when she grows up. I suspect everyone thinks she’ll be a lawyer since her dad and I are. We have a different take: we always say that our kids can be whatever they want when they grow up but we draw the line at lawyer and exotic dancer – and we’re willing to bend on an exotic dancer.
Kate hasn’t always been interested in what it is that her dad and I do. She was crushed in kindergarten to find out that I “worked with taxes” not “drove taxis” – she had told everyone the latter. But lately, she has more interest. She flips through Forbes and asks questions. She talks about politics (she has informed me that if I am not happy with what’s happening in government, then I need to tell somebody) and has quite a bit of insight.
This morning, I asked her opinion about taxes. And she was happy to oblige. She wrote the following piece, which I hope you’ll enjoy:
What I think of taxes
by Kate ErbTaxes are very important to us – why? Taxes pay for schools, roads, the government, et cetera. All of those are important. Schools need money to pay teachers who need to buy stuff like food. They also buy school supplies kids need to get a good education. Roads provide access to places we need to get to, but they need money for the materials and their workers. The government need to pay employees and to run our country.
What I think about taxes is that though we have to pay a lot of money that we need to pay for food and clothing other people also need the money. Like with the budget cut schools don’t have enough money. I moved away from a school that was forced to do unpleasant things from lack of money. All the kids were unhappy and a lot of kids didn’t want to go to school anymore. They need more money!
Taxes also pay for electricity and water. Without the money they can’t produce electricity and water so they tax you. If you don’t pay they stop providing electricity. Some people don’t understand others need the same things that you need and they get they money through taxes. But the taxers sometimes don’t get some people don’t have enough money to pay taxes right away. Think. Tax day. Some people can’t get the payment in one day, like the people poorer than you. Why not tax week or tax month?
Imagine this: there are no taxes, and you are a teacher. You don’t have enough supplies for the students at school and you can’t pay for your own children’s necessities. Not enough food or water. If there were no taxes, you would be somewhat like that. Now imagine someone is hurt and you can’t pay to help them. Maybe it’s your child or husband or sibling. Do you want to find yourself in this situation? Absolutely not. We need taxes.
Now do you see why taxes are important? Some people might laugh, but you could actually die. With no money you have no food, and when you have no food you die. We need taxes. Help a person and pay the taxes to get people money. Wouldn’t you like to get money? Of course!
You don’t have to agree with her, of course. But I hope you think about what she said and what it means in the context of her world. I think that’s what is missing from much of the debate on taxes these days: a little bit of perspective. We can all learn something from each other – even an 11-year-old.
