Tina related this anecdote to me.
Sunday morning, Anna turned on the TV to watch Curious George, but instead found Ed Slott. (Dad may have heard of him.) The program was called Stay Rich Forever & Ever, and was basically an infomercial for his upcoming book. After watching this guy go on about pensions and 401(k)s for about twenty minutes, Anna turned to her mother and asked, "How do we protect our money from the government?"
Now, this is not the first time she has expressed concern about paying taxes. A few weeks ago, I was grumbling about paying $93.50 to register our two cars. (I didn't realize it yet, but Anna was about to have a major breakdown.) She said that I should "send them to jail for trying to take our money." After I told her that it doesn't work that way, she burst into tears, sobbing that we wouldn't be able to buy her any more toys or clothes for Kindergarten. She was genuinely frantic about it.
Somehow, I managed to calm her down while giving what I hope was an age-appropriate dissertation on two tricky concepts: money and government.
Having successfully weathered that storm — but not desiring a repeat performance — when the school tax bill arrived yesterday, I decided not to mention it to Anna.
Unbelievable
6 years ago
4 comments:
I think we have a mini Republican in the making! I'd love to hear more details on your discussion of taxes.
It's a good thing her tooth fairy fund is not taxed....
It will be if the I.R.S. finds out about it.
All this under the kitchen table stuff is what’s driving this country into bankruptcy, in addition to other things, of course, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the Part D drug benefit and ever increasing fiscal deficits.
Wow, all three of my readers commented on this post. So the formula for success is Anna + (Money|Government)?
In my discussion with Anna, I was primarily concerned with preventing her from hyperventilating, so I tried to go easy on the propaganda. I assured her that even after we give some of our money to the government, there was still plenty left to buy her clothes and toys. (I may have digressed a bit to explain that she might get more toys if she would pick up the ones she already has.)
I tried to temper her bitterness by explaining that the government occasionally does useful things with the money it takes. (Although, when pressed for specific examples, I'm not sure I could think of anything...)
And the tooth fairy fund has already been taxed, no? Isn't the "tooth fairy" allowed to give up to $12000 per year to each child?
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