1. I Am a Taxpayer Lesson
Facilitator: Ask group “Who pays for these classes?”
Possible responses: Nobody, Our Agency, (prompt: Where does our agency get its
money from?) the City, the government)
Facilitator: Most of the money that pays for teacher and staff salaries and rent
and supplies and computers etc comes from the City, State or
Federal governments.
Facilitator: Where does the government get its money? (prompt until
response “taxes.”)
Facilitator: Who pays taxes? Raise your hands. EVERYBODY pays
taxes.
Facilitator: How do you pay taxes? What taxes do you pay?
Possible responses: Income tax, sales tax, real estate tax, “sin” tax, etc.
Facilitator: Do you pay taxes on your phone bill? On your electric bill?
Do you pay taxes on toilet paper? Do you pay taxes on your
home? Do you pay the property taxes on the stores where you
buy things? What other taxes do you pay?
Facilitator: So who pays for these classes?
Possible responses: The government. Taxes. Taxpayers. We do! The community!
Further discussion: Examine each type of tax, and how it impacts families at different
income levels.
Income taxes: A percentage of your salary is taken from your
paycheck to go to income tax. If you pay more than you are
required to pay, at the end of the year you get a refund. If you pay
less than you are required to pay, you must pay the balance at the
end of the year. If you have special circumstances, you don’t have
to pay taxes on all the money that you earn. Special circumstances
include mortgage interest, real estate tax, certain sheltered
investments, etc. Who gets to take advantage of more special
circumstances? High income people or low income people?
Social Security: Everyone pays a special social security tax,
which goes to support people when they retire. Everyone hopes
that social security will still be there for us when we retire.

2. Fixed taxes: Who pays a larger percentage of their family’s
income on the taxes and fees on their electric bill? A family who
makes $14,000 a year, or a family who makes $700,000 a year?
(Might argue that higher income people have bigger homes, pay
more electricity, and pay a larger percentage). What about toilet
paper? Who pays a larger percentage of their income on toilet
paper? Are fixed taxes fair? Do they make sense? Some will say
yes, some will say no.
Real Estate Taxes: NYC brings in more money in real estate
taxes than income taxes. Do you pay real estate taxes? Yes, you
do. If you own a home, you pay your real estate taxes directly.
And you don’t pay income taxes on the real estate taxes that you
pay. If you rent, a part of your rent pays your landlord’s real estate
taxes. Your landlord gets the tax deduction, you don’t. When you
buy things in a store, part of the price of your purchase is the real
estate tax on the store.

3. Government Budgets Lesson
Facilitator: Government budgets are like family budgets. In your family,
money comes in (through salaries or investments or things you sell
on ebay or child support payments or government payments like
social security or public assistance) and then that money goes out
to pay for rent and food and transportation and clothes and
entertainment, etc.
Governments get money through taxes or fees, and then they
spend that money on things that the City, the State or the
Nation needs.
Governments get revenue from taxes that families pay (like
those discussed in the earlier lesson), taxes that businesses and
corporations pay, and also from fees, such as wedding licenses,
citizenship applications, etc.
What sorts of things does the government spend your tax
money on?
Possible Responses: Our Agency, schools, roads, food stamps, welfare, garbage pick
up, museums, the military, scientific research, libraries, Medicaid,
etc etc. Prompt and get a HUGE list.
Hand out chart on distribution of Federal tax expenditures, discuss,
then hand out chart on State tax expenditures. Discuss.
Potential Chart to use for discussion of Federal expenditures
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258
Interactive table :
http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/taxreceipt2012/
Potential Chart to use for discussion of State expenditures.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2783
Facilitator: In your family, when you have more expenses than income, you
have a problem. You either have to cut your expenses, or
increase your income. How can you cut expenses? How can
you increase income?
Possible Responses: Get a second job, shop more carefully, cut out entertainment,
Facilitator: When a government has more expenses than revenue, they
have a problem. They have to either cut expenses, or raise

4. revenue. How can the government cut expenses? How can
they raise revenue?
Facilitator: Introduce various proposals for raising revenue or cutting
expenses.
Break into groups, and take list of expenses and list of strategies for raising revenue. Ask
groups to decide if they want to eliminate/reduce funding for programs, or introduce
strategies for raising revenue. If you propose cutting services, consider the long-term
consequences of those cuts. If you propose raising revenue, talk about the impact of
increased costs on the sector of society that would bear the burden. How will cuts to
services effect individuals and families? How will increased revenues affect individuals,
families and corporations?