December 18, 2023 at 4:27 pm

Teacher Shares That Her Students Don’t Understand How Taxes Really Work. – ‘Do they do this to your check too?’

by Laura Lynott

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

Being a teacher is a hard job, especially when you’re trying to teach your students how the world really works.

That’s why @amber.marie44 is calling for high school kids to be taught all about taxes, especially to avoid shocks when they get their first check!

Good idea, huh? Or, they could just get rid of taxes, but hey, ho…

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

@amber.marie44 said: “So, I had a student walk in… Like, I could just tell right off the bat, she was not in a good mood. I’m like, ‘Hey, girl, what’s up?’. And she’s like, ‘I can’t even today. This is the worst day of my life. Nothing worth anything anymore.’

This is sounding pretty typical emo right now, right? Well. Read on…

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

The teacher asks: “‘What happened?’. She’s like, ‘Well, I got my first job last week, and I worked 32 hours.’ I’m like, ‘Wow. 32 hours is a lot of first of all for a high school student.’ I was like, ‘Wow, that’s good, like, and she’s like, and ‘I just finally got my first check. And I’m supposed to be getting paid $17 an hour for 32 hours.'”

My heart is breaking for this girl because I’m sure she got quite a shock.

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

The teacher continued: “She’s like, ‘I didn’t know how much money I was supposed to make. And then I got my check in and it was way less.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’. ‘The taxes. Almost half of my entire check. I knew that people hate taxes, but I didn’t realize that they were taking hundreds of dollars out of every paycheck.'”

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

She added: “I was like, ‘Oh, yes girl, welcome to America.’  She was saying how like, it doesn’t make it worth it to work anymore. Because the amount of work that she’s putting in does not correlate to the amount of money that she’s getting. And she asked me. She was like, ‘Do they do this to your check too?’. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, girl they do. To everybody’s check. Everyone gets taxed.'”

And here’s the funny but also kinda sad part.

The high school student responds: “I think I’m going to quit my job. And I don’t think I’ll ever get a job again. Because that’s insane. Why am I working to only get half of the money I made.”

I feel for this kid. It’s a tough lesson we all had to learn. Unfortunately!

Watch the full clip here:

@amber.marie44

Why we need to be teaching high schoolers ab taxes 😪 #teacher #teachersoftiktok #teachertok #teachersbelike #teacherlife #teachertiktok #taxes

♬ original sound – amber

Some folks just see this as a high paycheck for a high schooler!

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

Yes, why does America have huge taxes?

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

It is kinda sad. For us all!

Source: TikTok/@amber.marie44

Here’s the thing… there’s way too much ignorance when it comes to how the world works financially.

We need comprehensive financial education from the moment kids get in school.

Period.

Thought that was a crazy story? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were travelling for business.