What Are Taxes?

What Are Taxes? — page 1 — WHAT ARE TAXES Shoppers must keep taxes in mind when choosing items to buy You’ve had your eye on something special at the store for a while Today you’re ﬁnally ready to buy it The store clerk asks for the money but it’s more than the amount on the price tag Why does it cost more than it says The answer is taxes Governments can collect money in different ways State governments sell license plates for cars and other A license is a document plate or tag showing that you have permission to own or do something VOCABULARY 4

What Are Taxes? — page 2 — automobiles They also charge fees for driver’s licenses City governments can ask you to pay for licenses to get married or to own a pet Sometimes they even charge money to park your car on certain streets Almost every government gets money by taking a certain amount from its citizens This money is called a tax The more that you know about taxes and how they work the better you will be at managing and saving your own money Parking meters allow the government to collect money for parking spaces 5

What Are Taxes? — page 3 — EARLY FORMS OF TAXES Many ancient farmers such as the one in this Egyptian painting had to give a portion of their crops to the government as payment In ancient times people sometimes gave goods or services to support their governments One of the oldest types of taxes was for land and crops It was called a tithe A tithe was one-tenth of a farmer’s crops or the animals he raised 6

What Are Taxes? — page 4 — Many believe that the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built not by slaves but by workers who owed service to the rulers Imagine life in ancient times Some people own little land so they don’t grow many crops Others own a lot of land and grow more crops Why is a tithe a fair way of collecting taxes THINK ABOUT IT Another ancient tax was called the corvée pronounced kor-VAY The corvée was a type of unpaid work that poor people could do for a short time if they couldn’t afford to give their government crops or money Some people might have had to help build a road or a bridge Some citizens might have been sent to ﬁght in a battle These people helped the government for a short time and then went back to normal life 7

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