Rant #1,855: Taxman

This week, like many Americans, my family will take care of our taxes.

We have an appointment on Wednesday with a tax service, and we will be processing our taxes through them.

Personally, I just can't wait to get this done. I really can't.

I want to get this done and over with, pay our taxes, and be done with it.

It is always somewhat nerve-wracking when you have to pay your taxes. You think that the government will find something that isn't there, and you will owe through the teeth.

This year, there is something different on my family's taxes, and it will impact us, hopefully not greatly, but I am prepared for the worst.

Last year, as you know, I won a contest where my wife and I went to Seoul, Korea for a few days.

As I described it way back when, it was a fantastic, once in a lifetime trip, not much of a vacation, but a trip that we will never forget.

But along with all the niceties of the trip came the baggage, and that baggage was the taxes that we would have to eventually pay for this trip and all of its trimmings.

Well, they are coming due with our current taxes.

I won't tell you how much the trip cost, but I will tell you that it is time to pay the piper, and that trip has to be accounted for.

The U.S. charges taxpayers for any "winnings" that might get, as far as things like game shows, lotteries, sweepstakes, and contest winnings.

Other countries don't do this.

I know that the Canadiens that won this contest don't have to pay a penny for it.

But here in the U.S., winners are taxed, and that means that my family is getting taxed for this trip.

We knew it all along; we have to fill out tax forms before we actually went on the trip, so it is no surprise.

But you know what one does in this situation. You live for the moment, and worry about such things later on.

Why spoil the moment?

Well, the time has come to worry about such things, and I am not going to say I am "worried," but I am concerned how it will impact our taxes.

We will know later this week, and I have to say that I am preparing myself for the worst, and hoping for the best.

What else can we do?

It's like eating a good meal, and then getting the bill, and wanting to throw up.

But we will take it as it comes.

Like I said, what else can we do?