Reminder: Khan Academy still has basic explanations on taxes in the U.S. This should help you with understanding tax brackets, deductions, and other related information.

[u/zonination]

Basically a repost from last year, but I felt the need to remind people that this resource exists. There are some simple explanations of tax law in the U.S. over at Khan Academy. Here are a couple links:

• Introduction to Tax Brackets
• Introduction to Deductions
• A link to all lessons in the Tax Portal

And since retirement accounts tie into deductions:

• Link to the Retirement Accounts lessons

Let me know if there's anything related I should add to this list. Happy filing!

[u/scottfarrar]

I'm a high school math teacher, I can shed some light on why these kinds of courses are not often given, and why even the content is not often taught.

The main reason is: the concepts are simple, the details are "hard".

Secondarily: it lacks direct relevance to high school students as they do not typically have jobs at all, and even fewer have jobs that pay enough to justify anything other than the AMT standard deduction.

More about the details: difficult taxes are due to personal situations which are too numerous to explain didactically, and really only relevant to a person in that exact situation. Can you imagine a more boring class than learning about how to complete the various combinations of tax forms?

What are the conceptual skills required behind "doing" taxes? Arithmetic and technical reading, with some organization skills to tie it together. I would argue those skills are taught in schools-- they're the kind of thing you do every day. As for the philosophy of government regarding taxes, public high school students take a Government/Economics class their senior year.

Look at Khan Academy's listings of topics. The total length of the videos is about 1 hour, and that's at Khan's slow pace of talking. Now lets say you designed a course that went into 1000% more detail-- even that would be 10 hours, or two weeks in a normal high school course pace. Too small for a semester or even a quarter length course.

Now there do exist personal finance courses that would cover these kinds of things, along with other money management topics, like managing credit card debt. But what is the "bang for the buck" for the school or the student? They courses I'm aware of would not be rigorous enough to be accredited as college prep math or social studies. And the school would need to assign a teacher and budget for it-- many schools face budget cuts and need to cut Art, Music, even Language courses.

And...who actually can't do their taxes? Yes I know many people don't: they go to H&R Block or something-- but would a brief series of direct lessons years in the past have any effect on this? If someone told you about deductions 10 years ago, would you know how to do it without looking it up?

Finally, its because tax information is already freely available to anyone who wants to learn it: now on Khan Academy for example, but states like California have free services to help you do taxes, and of course you can read the IRS instructions for yourself.

Ideally, schools teach all of the relevant foundation concepts (like arithmetic reading, and social studies) that give students the mental tools to adapt to a variety of future events. Schools cannot teach every specific procedure for all possible future events for all possible students.

[u/kyha → u/scottfarrar]

I'll agree, somewhat... actually, y'know what, I'm gonna disagree. You're working from a very flawed premise.

The problem with not teaching taxes in high school isn't one of math, it's one of civics. Nobody explains what the taxes are used for, nobody explains how taxes are considered legitimate, and most importantly nobody ever explains where to find the rules on how they're being taxed and the forms they need to fill out.

And nobody explains the most basic tax form, the 1040-EZ, or what W-2s or W-4s are or look like, or what I-9s look like and why they're important. At this point,

Nobody explains the generic process and procedure for starting a business, including municipal, county, state, and federal licensing requirements. Nobody explains the records that need to be kept, how to start a set of books, where to find additional information, or even that every individual is a sole proprietor who needs a set of books separate from the books of any business they start. Nobody explains how to set up a payroll, or the administrative requirements to do so. Nobody explains what the FICA tax or unemployment tax are used for, or the formulae for how they're considered acceptable.

I also have a beef with high schools not teaching information on the basic theory behind criminal law (you must in most cases do something with mens rea, or 'guilty mind', intending to do something that's against the law before you can be held criminally liable for it, and crimes are considered offenses against the state because the state structure itself suffers damage if they're committed), or where to find information on what the text of various crimes and their punishments are. The same with civil law, and the reasons for various types of laws such as building codes.

I'll agree that schools can't teach every specific procedure... but when even the most fundamental and basic aspects of "how to be taken seriously when you try to participate in the state" are ignored, you end up with states and counties and municipalities that are left in incredible deficits and have to hire huge revenue staffs just to try to catch up to people who don't pay their taxes. This costs taxpayers money, increases disrespect for the state and government, increases the likelihood that the students will end up in prison [for tax evasion, if not for simply disrespecting the law], increases internal strife among the various social classes, and hurts everyone.

You ask what the "bang for the buck" for the school is? It's teaching kids how to participate in the state structure that creates enough peace for the school to exist. How about for the student? Reduce disrespect for government, and maybe even be able to get the armed cops out of school buildings. What about for the taxpayers/parents? They don't have to worry about their kids getting incorrect information about social participation requirements.

I believe that civics is a foundation concept that needs to include the aspects I just mentioned. I don't believe taxes are necessarily mathematics -- they're just arithmetic, until the person paying them needs to move numbers from one category to another, at which point it's more knowing how to do and keep the paperwork to show what they're trying to do.

Tax evasion and failing to file taxes can lead to assets being seized, and/or the person going to prison. It's important to explain why taxes are collected, and what they're used for.

[u/Aquix → u/kyha]

Wow. I don't know anything about any of the topics you mentioned. So, is there a "tax" course I can take (I haven't watched the Khan videos just yet but I have a feeling they won't cover everything I need to know) and does this stuff fall under accounts, economics, or civics?

[u/kyha → u/Aquix]

I don't know of any actual courses at high school level on any of the topics that I mentioned. That's the worst part: these are things that everybody needs to know, but nobody at all is ever taught.

Doing a set of books for a sole proprietorship (including one's own life) is basic bookkeeping, which might fall into a category called "business math". Double-entry bookkeeping isn't taught in home economics, but it should be taught somewhere.

The theory of taxation is civics. Licensing is civics. The differences between criminal law and civil law is civics, as are criminal and civil law themselves. The theory of government (including public safety, order, and paying for it) is civics. How to participate in a court case as plaintiff, defendant, and on a jury is civics. Learning about the different levels of governments, the rule that lower governments can't undo or loosen the laws of higher governments, and where to find each level of government's constitutions and charters and laws and ordinances and regulations are all civics.

Starting a business should fall under civics, as well, especially since the government seems to want there to be a lot more small businesses than there currently are. I'll grant that there might be a good reason to only teach this to people who want to start a business, but there are a lot more businesses being run in junior high and high school than most people would want to recognize. When they're started without appreciation for the rules and regulations, any attempt to impose those rules and regulations and taxes afterward is going to increase resentment against government.

But right now, "tax" courses (at college level) are typically considered accounting courses. I'm guessing that this is one of the main needs that the Khan Academy saw and is trying to address with their videos. You might be able to find an Adult Continuing Education class, or seminars at your local library, to figure out how to do the forms... but I'm pretty sure you'll never find one that will give you the theory behind it all. :(

This is the world that we're born into, where students aren't shown that the people who wield government authority are representing something much more than just being other people who are arbitrarily getting in your face.

[edit: mentioning that the tax courses I've seen have all been at the college level, not at the high school level.]