Taxes & Society

Before we start

Five minutes before Lesson 1, no scoring.

1. 1. Name two things in your town that everyone shares and uses.
2. 2. If your class had 100 tokens for everyone, what would you spend some on?
3. 3. What makes a way of splitting a shared cost feel fair?

Lesson 1. Who keeps the streetlights on?

Cash · 45 min · Explain that taxes help pay for public services shared by a community.

1. Circle two shared services.
2. Explain why a single household might not buy the whole town's streetlights.
3. Is a privately bought toy the same as a public library?
4. Name a person who may benefit from a library even if they do not use it today.

Lesson 2. Ours or mine?

Penny · 45 min · Distinguish shared things paid for together and used by many from private things paid for by one person and used by one.

1. Sort the six cards into "shared" and "mine".
2. Why is a road usually shared, not one person's private property?
3. Name one thing that could be shared in one town but private in another, and say why.
4. Which shared service do you value most, and why?

Lesson 3. The town's 100 tokens

Tally · 45 min · Make a balanced shared budget and explain a compromise.

1. What remains after the three minimum needs?
2. Can library + park fit in the remainder?
3. Choose a plan totalling no more than 100.
4. After the flood, find 10 tokens without exceeding 100 and explain the effect.

Lesson 4. You can't buy everything

Tally · 45 min · Use a limited shared fund to make a trade-off, choosing which wishes fit and naming what is given up.

1. Add the four wishes. What do they total?
2. By how much does the full list go over the €30 fund?
3. Write a plan that fits within €30.
4. Which wish did you give up, and why that one?

Final mission. Have your say

Tally · 45 min · Practise good citizenship by pitching how a shared €20 should be used, voting, and accepting a fair result.

1. What should a good one-minute budget pitch include?
2. Why can keeping a small reserve be wise?
3. How can you disagree with another plan respectfully?
4. If the vote goes against your plan, what is a good way to respond?

Extension. Check the receipt, ask the question

Penny · 45 min · Recognise that some purchases include taxes while avoiding false assumptions about rates or exemptions.

1. Calculate each total.
2. What is the difference between item price and final total on receipt one?
3. May you use this exercise to tell someone the actual Dutch tax rate? Why not?
4. Write one question a shopper could ask if a receipt is unclear.

Extension. A little from many

Cash · 45 min · Show that many small shared contributions can add up to something no single person could easily buy alone.

1. Ten families each add €2. What is the total pot?
2. Could one family easily buy the €20 bench on its own?
3. Once the bench is bought, who is allowed to use it?
4. Why does sharing the cost make the bench easier to afford?

Extension. Fair shares

Goldie · 45 min · Show that a shared cost can be split in more than one fair way, whether equally or based on what each person can spare.

1. Split €12 equally among 4 people. What is each equal share?
2. In the by-ability plan two pay €4 and two pay €2. Add these four amounts — do they still total €12?
3. Which split feels fairer to you, and why?
4. Why do communities spend time discussing how to share a cost?

Extension. When the money runs short

Cash · 45 min · Face a shared fund that is too small for the year's needs and choose to cut, delay, or raise a little more.

1. Add the three needs. What is the total needed?
2. The pot holds €20. What is the shortfall?
3. Write one plan that closes the €6 gap.
4. Who should be asked before the town decides?

My money reflection

A quiet close to the month.

1. Something we all share that I'm glad exists…
2. A fair way to split a shared cost…
3. How I'd make my case if people wanted different things…

Cut-out coins

Play money for the lessons and the mission — fictional, for practice only. Cut along the dashed circles; print one page per pair for extra coins.