Teens for Lower Taxes

Adults in the executive and legislative branches of the nation’s various governments may not want to pay attention, but they should. A Junior Achievement survey of middle school and high school students nationwide completed in March shows that six out of seven (83%) teens believe taxes in general are too high. In addition, four out of five (79%) believe purchases made over the Internet should always be free of taxes. (Another 13.6% believe such purchases should be free of taxes, but for a limited time.) Despite indoctrination in government schools, today’s young people know a bad deal with they see one. While many older teens do hold jobs, few high school age and younger teens bear full financial responsibility for their own economic survival and well-being. As they mature, their lives will even more certainly be weakened by the leech of taxes on a daily basis. For too long, young people have tended to vote in proportion to their age: that is, only 20% of 20-year-olds vote, as opposed to 70% of 70-year-olds. Most have mistakenly thought that their votes cannot make a difference. As more young people come to understand that their votes can change the results, and vote to reject the insidious impact taxes have on their lives, their simmering rejection of ever-more expensive governments could turn into open revolt against politics as usual.