Rant #2,593: Taxman

So how was your Presidents’ Day?
 
Did you do anything presidential?
 
My family and I did the next best thing.
 
We had our taxes done yesterday, and while they aren’t yet completed, at least we got the ball in motion.
 
And things are so different this year because of the pandemic.
 
For the first time, we had to drop off our information rather than wait and have it done while we sat there.
 
The accountant went through all of our paperwork with me sitting there, but after asking a ton of questions and me providing a ton of answers, it was time for me to go.
 
This year’s tax situation is a mess for everyone, whether you worked or didn’t work, whether you were on furlough or your work was steady.
 
Stimulus checks aren’t taxed, but just about everything else is, and if you received unemployment and/or Social Security—i.e., my son and I—things get more complicated, as those monies are taxed to begin with.
 
And if you have a remote job where you are considered an independent contractor, like I have, the thing gets even more complicated.
 
But hopefully by today, the whole thing will have been worked out, we will find out if we owe anything—you can bet we do—and we will take care of it and put the whole thing to bed for another year.
 
Last year, we were fortunate enough to do our taxes right before the pandemic hit, so we got that out of the way before our lives changed, so it was one less thing to worry about with this scourge jumping from person to person.
 
We figured that this year, with the pandemic fully in place, we might as well get the hassle over with, so we decided to do it fairly early once again.
 
I think it was the right call, although getting all the pieces together this time was a hassle and a half.
 
We even discovered that my son’s current employer never gave him a W2, but we were able to get it directly from them this weekend, so my son’s tax material was in order when we handed it in.
 
Me, I had to get different forms from different places, but much of the material could be obtained online, so I guess it could have been worse.
 
I just love tax time, and I just love it even more right now, when everything is in disarray to begin with with everyone.
 
And remember, those work bonuses you received for working through the pandemic are taxable, so don’t go in blind when you do your taxes; front-line workers are considered to be heroic during this scourge, but heroes or not, you have to pay your taxes.
 
Other than that, we just took my son to work yesterday and picked him up.
 
I had the All-American dinner of franks and fries, and I watched the news, where our politicians once again showed that they are anything but presidential in the way they behave, in the way they pass the buck, in the way they double-talk the public about every subject under the sun, including saving their own butts.
 
I wonder if they do their taxes above board, or they are able to circumvent the tax system by finding loophole after loophole, things that aren’t available to most normal, every day, hard working Americans.
 
Yes, it has gotten to that point with me; I don’t trust any of them, even the ones I voted for and probably won’t vote for again.
 
So that is how I spent my Presidents’ Day.
 
I guess I could say that it wasn’t “taxing,” but on the other hand, it certainly was just that.