Tax Day

It is Tax Day.  Don’t panic, please … Tax Day for me hasn’t been April 15 for many years, since I began having my taxes done by a professional tax accountant.   For most of my years working for Big Industry, I did my own taxes.  I would postpone filing as long as possible, then scramble to collect all the necessary records, re-remember from last what went on what line and hold my breath as I looked up the tax due in the Tax Tables.  That usually happened on April 14.  Since I started my own business and hired an accountant to do the dirty work, Tax Day has been the day of my appointment with Taxman Bob.   I gather up all my paperwork and fill out the tax organizer that Bob provides, them spend about an hour in his office as he looks through what I’ve provide, making sure nothing is missing or incorrect.  He checks to see that I’ve paid my estimated taxes (in the amounts he calculated the previous year to assure there will be no penalty) and makes sure I haven’t neglected any deductions.   Then we’re done.  Within a few days, he will call with the bad news.   It’s always bad news because I pay estimated taxes, so, at a minimum, I will owe the first estimated tax payment minus any return I might have coming.   It can be a substantial chunk of change.

Still, it’s what my 12-Step friends like to call a Quality Problem.   I owe a lot because I’ve made a lot and we always have the money to pay what we owe.   I don’t even have to stand in line at the post office any more to get a certified receipt on my returns.  Bob submits my returns on line and I do the same with my payments.   While it sometimes seems that the percentage of my income that the government lays claim to is excessive, I can always remember that most of my income has come from doing business with the federal government, so I get a nice percentage of my taxes back in salary.   I have never been philosophically opposed to income taxes … I know it takes money to keep this country of ours running and safe.

But I have to admit, this year sending my money to Washington is harder to take than usual .   I have no problem disagreeing with the policy decisions of the current government-in-charge.   That is the nature of things in a country in which the party in control changes on a regular basis.   For years the pendulum has swung from conservative to liberal agendas, maintaining on the average what I would call a moderate governance.   But Washington has become a (not very good) Reality show, a national and international embarrassment.  You might think that by calling it a Reality show, I place the problem at the feet of our President, and he is certainly the ringleader.    But nearly as culpable is a Republican leadership which has failed to hold him accountable when he tramples traditions of democracy, standards of decency and conservative principles.   Don’t forget a Democratic leadership that has turned to the same sort of tactics and opposed every proposal without serious thought of compromise.  And would likely drag us too far leftward (think Bernie Sanders) if given the opportunity.  It is a time of too few statesmen and too many opportunists.  And no real leaders.

These days, as I read the news on my tablet in the morning, I feel like a stranger in a strange land.  And this year, I will pay my taxes under protest.

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Tags: curmudgeonly rants, feeling older, government, politics, taxes

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