Tax Time? Si!

Ah, yes! No one likes paying taxes. Well, maybe there are some gracious souls somewhere, but I have not encountered any. I have been sitting all day at the computer 'til my eyes are crossing. I think I will be sorting numbers in my dreams tonight. The only consolation is when I think of the days when I would sit with papers strewn across the table for days, and made simple errors transferring numbers from one form to another. I am not luddite enough to want to return to those days.

Every year I tell myself that I will start in January and have it all done by Valentine's Day. Maybe that is why I survived my "sudden death" episode a year ago -- to achieve that noble goal. In any case, most of us just wait until we can't put it off any longer. I am trying to get mine done before we leave for San Francisco in a week, although I probably won't mail it until we return, -- unless, of course, by some miracle, I have a refund coming. I know the IRS prefers e-filing, but I will put the extra stamp; they will just have to wait.

The secret, of course, to not having to pay income taxes is to not have an income. If you are poor enough you don't have to pay. If you are rich enough George W. will send you a big refund check. The rest of us have to pay. So I try to convince myself that we have to pay for the advantages of living in this society. But then I think, maybe I could get by with a few less advantages if it would make the tax burden less.

Of course, I am only thinking of Income Taxes now. The daily bleed when I shell out to buy fuel for the car with the State and Federal taxes included, or when my phone bill comes with all the taxes, or the State purchase tax added to candy and soda pop and other necessities, are taxes, too, of course. And then there is Property Tax. Ours keeps going up. I keep wanting to move someplace where the property values are not as high and the taxes are more affordable. I feel a bit taxed paying for the luxury of living where I do.

Death and Taxes! Ah, yes. And unfortunately we don't get a choice. Even so, I think I would choose to pay taxes and live. I would choose to have an income enough to pay taxes. Better still, I would prefer to have a lot of money so I could get a tax cut! And I have moved around enough to know that whether the taxes are well spent or not, we live better than most of us deserve, our complaining notwithstanding.