Taxes Suck
“Being poor was not such a drag in hindsight” – Ben Folds (The Ascent of Stan)
I’m trying to do my taxes and this is freaking ridiculous. Last year was easy. I made next to nothing in 2004, so I basically just copied my 2003 return with new numbers. Last year, I had a real job with a real salary, so I’m staring in fear at this 1040.
And I’m one of the lucky ones. I can’t imagine how bad it’ll be one day when I have the following things to contend with: mortgage deductions, child deductions, childcare deductions, healthcare deductions. And when I qualify to deduct too much, I get hit with the alternative minimum tax — a tax which most people don’t even understand. In fact, most people I’ve spoken to say they calculate it as best as possible, pay it, and hope the IRS doesn’t come after them.
Our tax system is so bad that roughly 2/3s of mortgage holders in the US don’t even claim their mortgage deduction on their taxes because it’s too complicated to do so.
This leads me to a funny story. Once upon a time, I recieved a threatening letter from the state of Maryland saying that I owed them back taxes from 2001. Of course I didn’t live in Maryland that year. In fact, I’d been a registered voter in Illinois since 1998. Anyways, I wrote to them and pointed this out and I got another letter that not only failed to acknowledge the first letter, but then claimed I owed the original amount plus some interest. This time I wrote back and explained that I followed all the tax laws for the state I lived in and I didn’t owe them any money.
A few months passed and I recieved a third letter. This time, I got wise. I sent them a letter explaining that they clearly didn’t have a real definition of being a Maryland resident, because during the year that they claimed I lived in Maryland, I applied to graduate school at the University of Maryland and I was accept as an OUT-OF-STATE student!!!! The hypocrisy! Luckily, I save these types of things and I sent them a copy of the acceptance letter. It’s been 2.5 years since then. I haven’t heard back. Obviously I’m only a resident of the state when it comes to paying them extra money.
Anyways, if you get a chance, I think you should visit the fairtax website. Its located at http://www.fairtax.org. It’s a really good idea that is starting to pick up steam with some of our politicians. Of course they’ll never get behind it until they’re convinced that they’re own job depends upon it.
I think it’s a really well thought out idea that is definitely worth learning about. I’m not sure our tax code could possible get any worse.
Then again, when I look at the people who are running things (this is NOT a Left Wing vs. Right Wing statement), I find myself resigned to the belief that they will find a way to make it worse.
