*grumble* damn taxes

Yeah, it’s that time of year when all productive Americans and Legal Resident Aliens get to show their undying love for this great land. And how do we do this you may ask? By shoveling huge amounts of our hard earned money into that gaping maw of a money pit known as Washington D.C.

Yes, the insatiable monster known as the U.S. Government wants it’s vigorish and woe be to anyone who decides to tell them to go pound sand. I’ve just finished doing my taxes and sent them in electronically. Unlike Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, I know how to use TurboTax. Guess this means I’m not qualified for a post in the Obama Administration.

Anyway, I live in a state with no income tax or sales, but a rather high property taxes. However I work in a state that has both. This means I have to file both state and federal tax forms. I can’t tell you just how much I enjoy paperwork. Why? Because I HATE PAPERWORK!

I used to have to pay an accountant to do my taxes. He was very conservative and most of my refund, (More about that later), went to his fee. Then I found TurboTax and started doing my own returns.

I did, or will, get a refund from both the state and federal governments. This just means I overpaid my taxes. My wife also worked most of last year so we’re filing jointly. I also own a home, we bought 2 new cars this year, (Registration is deductible), had to replace a water heater and I made some money in the stock market…for a change. This means a complicated return.

One of the problems is gathering all the forms and documents together. I only got the last bits today. Then I spent a good 4 hours going through all the TurboTax windows, watching my hard earned money being raped from my wallet. I finally finished up this afternoon and E-filed my returns. With a little luck I should get my refund in a couple of weeks.

And speaking of refunds…

Do you know what a refund is? It’s the government repaying the no interest loan you graciously gave them. No, you are not getting “Money back!” they are returning the excess taxes they took from you in the first place. Of course, if you are in California, they might just give you an IOU instead. 😐

Now there have been many arguments on they means of taxation, the level of taxation and the reasons for taxation. Me, I tend to go for a flat tax on the federal level with a serious contraction in the size of the federal government. (Defense, foreign policy, massive disasters, a few other odds and ends listed in the constitution and that’s about it)

Some people, most notably those now holding office, see taxes as a way to “do something.” Punish the rich, help the poor, pay off their friends, enrich themselves, etc. etc. etc. The late and unlamented scumbag, Rep. Jack Murtha was a classic case of using other people’s money to take care of his friends. People if a Liberal/progressive/socialist/Marxist political bent see taxes as a way to punish or reward chosen groups.

The latter is one of the main reasons our tax system is so incomprehensible to anyone. There is so much crap and garbage in the tax code that it can’t be understood let alone be complied with. Personally, I think the current code is unconstitutional for just those reasons alone. We won’t go into the belief of the Internal Revenue Service, (IRS), that your are considered guilty and must prove innocence.

Yeah, the best thing that could happen is the IRS data centers getting hacked by the Chinese military and being destroyed. Umm, on second thought, they may just leave it alone. They couldn’t do anything more destructive then our government is already doing.

Well, I’ve vented enough.

Enjoy watching your money going down the rat holes.

~The Angry Webmaster~

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