What are taxes?
Taxes are special kinds of fees or charges that the government requires people to pay in order to live and work in their state or country.
The government needs money to operate, and taxes are a way for it to get this money. This money goes to fund many different types of programs. It may be used to fix roads and bridges. It may be used to pay for the military. It may be used to help your own education! There are different kinds of taxes.
Grown-ups and teenagers that have jobs pay taxes on the money that they earn from working (and they're usually not too happy about it.) States usually have sales tax that you pay when you buy something, like a toy or a game, in a store. You may have noticed that if a price tag says $.99 you might end up paying $1.05 or $1.08 at the register. That extra money is a sales tax, and the amount of that tax changes from state to state.
by Lauren Orkus (Whyzz writer)
Exploration
Taxation Imagination
As a kid, you probably don't have to worry about taxes too much, but imagine what it's like for the grown-ups in your life. Imagine you're having a warm chocolate chip cookie for dessert, but you're told you have to give half of it up as a tax. You probably wouldn't be too happy. Imagine then that the half of the cookie you give up is going to feed someone who's really hungry and can't get food on their own. You might be a little bit more okay with it then.