It’s Tax Season

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I spent the last 20 years of my working life keeping track of other people’s money.  In fact, I’m still doing that as I have two micro-jobs, one doing the sales tax accounting for a single retail home décor store back in Missouri, and another keeping up with the bookkeeping for a real estate broker who has diversified financial dealings.  I don’t particularly enjoy still sitting in front of my computer sorting out a lot of numbers and transactions these days, but it does give me something productive to do.  It also keeps me mentally engaged, which, they say, is key to the anti-aging process. 

Another thing that I sort of fell into, like the micro-jobs I mentioned above, is doing the income tax preparation for my mom and one of my sisters.  Truth be told, doing taxes these days using tax prep software like HR Block isn’t that difficult.  The hardest part is gathering all the information needed to fill out the forms.  Thank goodness none of us need to itemize deductions anymore.  That single thing in and of itself makes the process much, much easier. 

Another thing I just found out, thanks to my brother, who plays a major role in being able to successfully prepare Mom’s and Patti’s (who live in Wisconsin) taxes, is that the tax software can import all the investment information contained on their investment company’s year end tax documents.  I never knew that, and that import function helped a lot too because their tax documents were between 20 and 24 pages!

All of us have inherited investments and the tax software asks a lot of questions about them that I have to guess at.  Who knows if, and how much, the original IRA owner had as basis in those IRAs.  I just answer NO to that question, because if I answer yes, they want me to tell them how much.  It’s an unanswerable question of those who’ve passed on to the great beyond.  A séance would be far more trouble than just paying the tax on investment. 

I’m pretty happy about all the talk we hear these days about the possibility of no longer paying tax on Social Security payments.  And even the possibility of the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service.  I never believed that income tax was constitutional, but the government does, in fact, have us by the short hairs.  To ignore filing an annual income tax return and paying what they say you owe them has dire consequences, ones I’m not willing to risk to keep my life quiet and uncomplicated.  But it does seem like a mob shakedown to me. 

Another tax thing that irks me to no end is property tax.  How did we get to a place in the United States of America where we pay cash for the home we live in and maintain, yet still have to rent it back from our local and state governments.  Don’t believe me?  Don’t pay your property taxes and see how long it takes for you to completely lose ALL the equity in your half-million dollar home (in Florida, for example), because you refuse to pay under, say, $20,000 (over the 3-4 years it takes the tax delinquency process to work) in taxes. 

When we think of Tax Season, we think of income tax, but honestly, living in America means every day there’s a different tax.  The US Tax Code (as of December 2023) mentions 97 different taxes.  They are:

1. Air Transportation Taxes
2. Biodiesel Fuel Taxes
3. Building Permit Taxes
4. Business Registration Fees
5. Capital Gains Taxes
6. Cigarette Taxes
7. Court Fines
8. Disposal Fees
9. Dog License Taxes
10. Drivers License Fees
11. Employer Health Insurance Mandate Tax
12. Employer Medicare Taxes
13. Employer Social Security Taxes
14. Environmental Fees
15. Estate Taxes
16. Excise Taxes On Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
17. Federal Corporate Taxes
18. Federal Income Taxes
19. Federal Unemployment Taxes
20. Fishing License Taxes
21. Flush Taxes
22. Food And Beverage License Fees
23. Franchise Business Taxes
24. Garbage Taxes
25. Gasoline Taxes
26. Gift Taxes
27. Gun Ownership Permits
28. Hazardous Material Disposal Fees
29. Highway Access Fees
30. Hotel Taxes (these are becoming quite large in some areas)
31. Hunting License Taxes
32. Import Taxes
33. Individual Health Insurance Mandate Taxes
34. Inheritance Taxes
35. Insect Control Hazardous Materials Licenses
36. Inspection Fees
37. Insurance Premium Taxes
38. Interstate User Diesel Fuel Taxes
39. Inventory Taxes
40. IRA Early Withdrawal Taxes
41. IRS Interest Charges
42. IRS Penalties
43. Library Taxes
44. License Plate Fees
45. Liquor Taxes
46. Local Corporate Taxes
47. Local Income Taxes
48. Local School Taxes
49. Local Unemployment Taxes
50. Luxury Taxes
51. Marriage License Taxes
52. Medicare Taxes
53. Medicare Tax Surcharge On High Earning Americans Under Obamacare
54. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax
55. Obamacare Surtax On Investment Income
56. Parking Meters
57. Passport Fees
58. Professional Licenses And Fees (another form of taxation)
59. Property Taxes
60. Real Estate Taxes
61. Recreational Vehicle Taxes
62. Registration Fees For New Businesses
63. Toll Booth Taxes
64. Sales Taxes
65. Self-Employment Taxes
66. Sewer & Water Taxes
67. School Taxes
68. Septic Permit Taxes
69. Service Charge Taxes
70. Social Security Taxes
71. Special Assessments For Road Repairs Or Construction
72. Sports Stadium Taxes
73. State Corporate Taxes
74. State Income Taxes
75. State Park Entrance Fees
76. State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)
77. Tanning Taxes
78. Telephone 911 Service Taxes
79. Telephone Federal Excise Taxes
80. Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Taxes
81. Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Taxes
82. Telephone State And Local Taxes
83. Telephone Universal Access Taxes
84. The Alternative Minimum Tax
85. Tire Recycling Fees
86. Tire Taxes
87. Tolls
88. Traffic Fines
89. Use Taxes
90. Utility Taxes
91. Vehicle Registration Taxes
92. Waste Management Taxes
93. Water Rights Fees
94. Watercraft Registration & Licensing Fees
95. Well Permit Fees
96. Workers Compensation Taxes
97. Zoning Permit Fees

No wonder no one celebrates tax season. 

Here in America, we’re nothing but free-range slaves.   And if that doesn’t make you want to puke, I really question your sanity. No wonder Trump sees the need for a Department of Government Efficiency. One thing I am sure of is that his intent isn’t to tax us even more. If we don’t get taxed anymore, I might be out of all my jobs. And, hey! That’s a good thing.

P.S. Free range slave or not, I’d still rather live in America than any other place on earth. I heard a statistic the other day, that there’s only about a 2.5% chance that a newborn will be born in America. Guess I won the world citizenship lottery. Thank you, Lord!