Classic Rant #234 (April 15, 2010): Pay Up and Shut Up!

Well, did you pay your taxes yet?

Today is April 15, and today is the day that we all must submit our tax forms to the government so they can be processed. You probably know this, but today is the deadline, although you can get an extension under certain circumstances.

Some of us will be getting back money from the government; others will have to pay the federal and local governments what they owe them.

Some people choose to not partake of this process, while others claim deductions that are unlawful. Still others--very wealthy people--use tax shelters to shield their money from the arms of the government, and/or take tax write-offs that us regular people could never do legitimately.

I mean, what can a poor (and I mean that literally) middle class guy like myself, and my wife, do? We go by the law, and file our taxes each and every year.

Our deductions are minimal. Our son is one deduction (I can't take my daughter, because my ex-wife takes her as a deduction), and our child care expenses during the year are another deduction. Other than that, we don't own property, we don't have enough money to give anything substantial to charities, and thus, we don't have many deductions.

And if you don't have many deductions and make what we make, well, you don't do too well on your taxes.

But we file tax returns each year. At least we can say that. No monkey business here.

And it could be worse.

If you think that April 15 is annually the worst day of the year for you, take heed, it was worse for President Abraham Lincoln.

On this date, in 1865, the President died, nine hours after being shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.

So it was a really, really bad day for him.