Tell City seniors learn tax basics from local accounting firm visit

How much will come out of the first paycheck, why is take-home pay smaller than gross pay, and what does a W-4 actually do? Those were the kinds of questions Katie Marsh brought into Mrs. Stath’s senior classes at Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School, where students were learning the tax basics they will need for summer jobs, apprenticeships, college programs and full-time work.

Tell City-Troy Township School Corp said the visit was meant to help seniors understand an important real-world topic as they prepare for life after high school. Mrs. Stath’s goal, the district said, is to expose students to real-life lessons as they enter adulthood, and taxes fit squarely into that mission because first-time workers have to learn payroll deductions, withholding and the difference between wages earned and money that lands in a bank account.

The lesson also fit into a broader pattern at the school. Tell City-Troy Township School Corp has highlighted Career Pathway options for students at Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School, and it recently celebrated Early College Week by noting that some students are on track to earn the Indiana College Core, with more than 30 hours of college credit earned for free while still in high school. Together, those efforts show a school trying to send graduates out with academic credit, job readiness and the vocabulary of adult life.

Marsh was a natural choice for that work. Marsh, Terry and Associates says Katie Marsh joined the firm in early 2021 after eight years at Ernst & Young in Global Compliance & Reporting. The firm says she earned her CPA license in 2014, graduated from Tell City High School and Ball State University, and now serves as board treasurer for Perry Childcare Initiative. Her presence in Mrs. Stath’s classroom tied the lesson to a local professional who works with tax questions every day.

The firm itself has deep local roots. Marsh, Terry and Associates says it was founded in 2002 by Gary Budd in Jasper. Wes Terry became president in 2019, and the firm says he acquired the late Jerry Hoagland’s Tell City practice in 2017. The Tell City office is listed at 707 Main St., putting the accounting work right in the middle of the community it serves.

For students about to file for the first time, the key federal form is the W-4, the Employee’s Withholding Certificate used to tell employers how much federal income tax to withhold from pay. Indiana’s Department of Revenue explains the state withholding system and related employer filing rules, and a federal payroll bulletin says Indiana’s state income tax withholding rate changed from 3.00 percent to 2.95 percent effective for pay period 05, 2026. For Perry County families, that is a reminder that the details on a pay stub matter now, not just at tax time.