Tax Literacy Belongs in Every Classroom

With the school year just around the corner, families are busy shopping for pencils and backpacks while teachers are planning lessons. Though high schools will continue to teach the next generation about civics, English, and math, one critical topic remains missing from many classrooms: taxes.

This absence of tax literacy in education is striking, especially in a year when taxes have dominated both the national headlines and our daily conversations. From the recent signing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” to continued taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. reforms taking place at the state level, Americans are seeing firsthand how tax policy can drive the political conversation.

More importantly, they’re seeing how tax policy impacts so much of our daily lives, shaping prices at grocery stores and even influencing how much we tip our servers at dinner.

Whether it’s a debate over who pays what, or questions about how tax revenue should be spent, taxes are no longer just a topic during filing season—they’ve become a year-round discussion.