ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Social Studies Videos 2409 videos

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
39791 Views

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

Fake News
11936 Views

How do you tell fake news from real news?

Why Does the Constitution Still Work for Us?
5721 Views

Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...

See All

Finance: Why Do Taxes Exist? 137 Views


Share It!


Description:

Why do taxes exist? Without taxes, Uncle Sam wouldn't be able to boss us around via the IRS, which uses taxpayer money to run the government. Those taxes happen at a local level as well, in the form of real estate taxes, state income taxes, and taxes on local sales, cleverly called sales tax.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Why do taxes exist and notice we're saying that with a kind of a whiny tone

00:10

alright well someone has to pay for this and this and this and this yep there are [Hand pointing to a road, a school, a plane and a park]

00:17

a bunch of different types of taxes in each of them carries a different purpose

00:20

yeah Road taxes get paid in large part out of

00:24

the gasoline you buy you got to pay for the building and maintaining of potholes [Car drives into a pothole]

00:28

right and that makes sense if you drive a car you use the roads more so you

00:33

should pay more for its use that's like a use tax get it cleverly named if for [Price for federal tax per gallon and state tax per gallon]

00:38

when you own a home you'll pay real estate tax and for the most part that

00:41

tax is designated to pay schools all right well but like everything [Hand holding money from real estate tax to pay for schools]

00:45

government related nothing is simple in America the federal government has kind

00:49

of a matching program for schools where they pay for a portion of the education

00:54

cost based on various factors and you don't want us to get into that in the [complicated equation on chalkboard]

00:58

video all right well the largest taxes most people pay are income taxes and

01:02

those generally pay for the government to you know govern us if a couple made a

01:06

hundred grand jointly in California last year they'd pay around thirty [A couple stood together in their home]

01:09

thirty-five grand in taxes that money covers things like shiny new airplanes

01:13

to force the mean countries to play nice in the schoolyard it covers repairs to

01:18

crumbling bridges and tunnels across the country it covers public protective [Bridges crumbling]

01:22

services like police and fire department people

01:24

it covers libraries and public parks, well don't feel like you're getting your

01:28

money's worth these days if you're ever not feeling that you can always move to [Woman chased from a park by a tiger]

01:33

the Ukraine discounts on citizenship they're everywhere

Related Videos

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
39791 Views

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

Fake News
11936 Views

How do you tell fake news from real news?

Finance: What is Bankruptcy?
260 Views

What is bankruptcy? Deadbeats who can't pay their bills declare bankruptcy. Either they borrowed too much money, or the business fell apart. They t...

Finance: What is a Dividend?
1774 Views

What's a dividend? At will, the board of directors can pay a dividend on common stock. Usually, that payout is some percentage less than 100 of ear...

Finance: How Are Risks and Rewards Related?
589 Views

How are risk and reward related? Take more risk, expect more reward. A lottery ticket might be worth a billion dollars, but if the odds are one in...