My former White House colleague Tevi Troy suggested the following method for turning children into lifelong tax cutters.

  1. Make each of your kids spread his or her Halloween candy out on the kitchen table.
  2. Take one-third of it.
  3. Say, “That’s called taxes.”
  4. Repeat each Halloween.

I figure it will take maybe two years of this to turn them into lifelong tax cutters.

For most kids, this is probably the first income they have earned through their own labor. Maybe it’s better they learn about taxes now, rather than 10-15 years from now when they first ask “Who the h*** is FICA?”

You might see a cheating dynamic in future years, in which your Halloween taxpayers try to hide some of their income from the taxman.

If anyone actually tries this:

  • You are an evil parent.
  • Please report your kids’ reactions so we can all learn from them.

Tevi promises he has not done this to his kids.

(photo credit: Halloween Candy by aus_chick)