A Taxing Experience

I have wanted the students to truly understand why the colonialist were so upset with paying the taxes that King George put on so many items.  So we started Friday off with a "Proclamation from King George".  I handed on bags of Cheerios (100 per bag) to each student saying that Rita and I were rewarding them for all their work on Colonial America.   They were pleased to have a snack first thing in the morning!  I told them not to eat it, yet. Then I left the room momentarily only to return saying in a loud deep voice "Hear Ye, hear ye a proclamation from King George".  It made everyone stop - even the aides!  It was fun to see the look on everyone's face.  Then I read the proclamation.  The students would have to pay Cheerios if they had any of these items:

• jeans = 5 Cheerios
• glasses = 5  Cheerios
• jewelry = 10 Cheerios
• paper = 5  Cheerios per page
• t-shirts = 5 Cheerios 
• t-shirts with writing or designs = an extra 5 Cheerios
• pencil = 3 Cheerios

Well - it got the intended response.  Some students rebelled against it.  Others refused and were very vocal about it.

A while later we did another activity to show the students the inequality of taxes and who was getting the most.  The students names were randomly drawn with a job.  The jobs ranged from slave to King George.  Once all the students had their jobs and were in place we were able to begin.  Everyone had the Cheerios from the first activity only the "slaves" had to temporarily give up their Cheerios.

• We started in Africa where the ships captain would obtain slaves to take to the West Indies.
• The ship captain (using scooters for her boat) took the slaves for a ride where she purchased molasses from the plantation owner.  The tax collector would collect money for each slave from the plantation owner and for the barrels of molasses from the captain.
• The captain then sailed (scooted) to the New England colonies to sell the molasses.
• The rum makers bought the molasses and the tax was collected here too!  They also had to pay their factory workers for unloading the molasses and making the rum.
• The rum makers would then sell rum to the captain and the tax collector was there again collecting from the captain.
• The ships captain would return to Africa to sell the rum and make a profit.  The tax collector would make another appearance here too. 

We did this two times and the students started to see who was making the money.  The tax collectors totaled all their collected funds and it came to 28 Cheerios.  Since the tax collectors were able to keep 10%, I posed the question, "So how much did he get to keep?"  The older students thought for a moment and they came up with 2 almost 3 so we went with 3.  Out of what was left the Parliament and King George got 50% each.  So how much did they get?

It was interesting seeing the students reaction. 

• Some didn't want to part with their money (Cheerios) - "No, I don't want to buy any molasses."  
• Some were afraid they would run out of money - "What happens if I don't have enough money to pay?"
• They really thought it was unfair that the slaves earned nothing and the factory workers only made 1 Cheerio while the tax collector, Parliament  and King George earn so much.

I think the students would have liked to continue doing the activity and get more of an opportunity to earn some money. The simulation of the taxes from Colonial Americ caused the students to have more empathy for the colonist -so it achieved its desired results!