With the recent tax reform mandate passing the House and making its way to the Senate, we see opposing arguments from Republicans and Democrats. Why is it important to know the details in policies like this? For one, we have seniors who are eligible to vote in elections. Also, some of our families could benefit or be hurt financially by these measures.

In a recent survey taken by 28 students, 27.6% said they understood how taxes and politics worked, 62.1% said they knew about taxes and politics but not too much, and 10.3% said they had no idea.

One student even specifically said it is important that the school is “educating people about the changes to take place with the tax reform, about what was promised and what is going to happen, and helping [students] see for themselves if they think they will benefit.” 

Bob Jones student Irena Guo said, “By not staying aware of the taxes and policies various political figures support and want to implement, a supporter may back the wrong horse with false pretense. By remaining aware of various taxes and policies, one can make an educated vote that would affect said voter positively.”

Another student, Carl Yem, said, “Not understanding taxes and policies can lead to uninformed voting and belief of officials. Things like tax cuts can have severe repercussions on government programs like Social Security and Welfare. If voters don’t understand the policies they vote on, government officials can make nice sounding policies that take money away from government programs and give it to corporations and the rich.”

A couple helpful websites on taxes and policies to help students understand them more. One website. One site is, usa.gov, which provides a lesson plan and activities to educate students and children on taxes. Another site is, commonsense.org, features other helpful sites and fun games for history and civics.

Being an informed citizen is an important part of a democracy, and it is a way of protecting yourself and others in society. With seniors at Bob Jones being eligible to vote, they need to be informed about how the decisions the government makes can affect them in the short term and in the long run.