Candy & Taxes

A game about personal income, the economy, government, and social policy

As you noted there are five quintiles. In this game there are 16 squares, which means that you will be randomly assigned to any one of these positions, with the number of pieces of candy indicated. Remember that each piece of candy represents 1% of the total income in the U.S.

To understand which one you are in the game, look for the pink square and note the number of candies in that square. For instance, if you have 8 candies, you are in the second quintile; if you have 1 candy, you are in the bottom quintile; and if you have 28 candies, you are in the top 10%!

Equal Income Distribution

Now, let’s explore various taxation schemes. Remember that the government needs money in order to survive and provide basic services. Let’s look at how well we can fund the government and serve people under different taxation schemes. Social work values and ethics need to be included in the discussion as well as basic concepts of economics.