Paid My Taxes Today

“So?” “What is the big deal in that?” “I haven’t even opened up my tax folder yet.” “Doesn’t need to be filed until April 15^th. What is the rush?”

I know, I hear all the response to this menial boring act of filling out paperwork for the government to take some of my money but there is more to the story.

Today I mailed my tax forms in. Yes, old school snail mail, and over the weekend I gathered my pieces of paper required to calculate my money against what the government calculate I should chip in to live in the home of the free and land of the brave.

Now my taxes have never been difficult and I’ve never used a preparation service but it is time consuming to try and figure out the best way to save my money and not give as much to Uncle Sam. Isn’t that how the game is played?

I’ve used the long form with all the deductions and used the EZ form and basically came out the same. The only difference was reading and trying to understand ‘govspeak’ of “Add line 9 through 12 and subtract from Estimated Income unless line 6 is over $250,000.00 in which you divide line 22 by 3.75% and attached form Adj.24 with Form C-9”

Most of my calculations now are ‘copy and paste’ from the previous year, so I prepare taxes while watching the Super Bowl. It gives a break from the boredom and with enough adult beverages might find another loophole. This is the time I also go through all my files of last year’s payments for utilities, maintenance, necessaries and fun items and remove the clutter. I also have a running Excel sheet to cross-reference and have kept every tax folders since first working in 1971 for about $1,500.00. How can you live on that amount of money?

So back to the story, I filled out all the boxes (I hope) on a downloaded PDF form and double-checked the numbers then printed copies for the all the governmental entities that want my money. Slap some stamps on a manila envelope, scribble a signature and off it goes to someplace in Kansas City. Don’t think I would like to live there because that must be one of them nuclear targets for how will the government get more bombs without money?

Some say there are too realities of life: Death & Taxes. This might be true, at least the first one can’t be disputed with all the graveyards but the second is a game. “I want your money”, the government says so it can fund our security, transportation, space exploration, education, air and water purity and a bunch of other stuff.

Like every other good American, I pay my taxes. Years ago I used to pay more than the requirement so at the end of the year I was assured of getting money back. It was sort of a savings plan but on April 15^th I didn’t have to write another check. I played by the rules and met my national responsibility of funding my fair share to an ever-growing governmental bureaucracy and never complained about my civic duty. I even paid my city and state taxes without question. They know what to do with this money.

The rest of my hard earned money was spent on wasteful wanton pleasure along with a bit of grub and a new shirt now and then. I kept my daily cost down to a minimum so I could proclaim myself as a true red-blooded all American taxpayer (wave the flag here) and stayed away from the repro man.

Now comes the real question, why can’t we decide how we want our taxes spent?  A “Line item tax allocation” without a committee, study, means and ways, review, vote, budget, etc. declaring where WE want our money to be spent is an concept not tried.

Our governmental bodies handle a lot of stuff that we don’t even know about or appreciate. Not only the potholes are filled but also every time you download onto your electronic devices someone is listening.

Suppose, just suppose, our government said, “We need $X to do all the thing WE think YOU want, so pay up!”

And suppose WE said, “Not so fast and quick with our cash!” I, as a tax-paying citizen of these United States of America don’t think that is the best way to spend my hard earned cash.

Now the government has lots of reports and charts explaining where the money goes, but it wasn’t your choice. It was the ‘elected’ official that listens to lobbyist and opponents and must decide to agree or disagree with a budget amendment depending on the president’s signature and the threat of reelection.

I agree with the democratic procedure of election representatives because we all don’t have time to mess with all this stuff, but when we take our time to fill out the paperwork at tax time, we can instruct our elected officials where we want our money spent.

Mary has kids and wants all her taxes spent on education while Bob wants to keep the armed forces strong so take his taxes and buy some bombs and bullets. Ted is a tree hugger and wants his taxes spent on air and water purification while trying to figure out the plastic trash problem. Sally has a abdominal hernia and wants whatever she can afford to find a solution to her pain.

How would this work?

You get your 1040 or 10EZ or whatever form and it ask you how much money did you make last year? No exceptions, how much dough is in the bank?

Now consider NO DEDUCTIONS for any reason and now you have the INCOME to tax.

But I’ve got 12 children and my mother-in-law living with me and I need additional assistance. My crops went bad with the price cuts and the bad weather and I need additional assistance. The windshield on my BMW is dirty and I need additional assistance.

Sorry for your misery but your government needs $.00 and needs you to pay $% of your cash to get things done. A simple basic budget analysis and allocation of funds to get things done without a deficit might be refreshing.

Another thought on the subject would be a ‘pay-as-you-go’ budget.

I personally like the fundamental thought that you can’t spend more than you got, but then someone invented credit. I still like the barter system of I need something from you and you need something from me and we shake hands and everyone is happy.

So if we did have a ‘pay-as-you-go’ budget how would we get things done? We might have enough resources in place to begin and from there on, we charge for services needed.

“My house is on fire! Help!!” That will cost you $82K for the government provided services to come out and put out the flames. Is it worth it?

“I feel fearful about some of the people wandering around my neighborhood and want protection.” That will cost you $120 a month to have a security officer patrol your property and possibly intervene with deadly force but there will be additional fees for bullets while not being libel for property damage and residual pain and suffering.

I certainly don’t have all the answers of how we survive but I do astound to the idea of don’t go over what you can afford. I’ve been on the other side and it is not comfortable so I try to stay on course.

So my taxes or at least the papers analyzing the federal government request and my acknowledgment of their request happen at this time of year. I allow them to use my money during the year to do whatever they have to do and then fill out the forms to ask for the money back.

As you watch all the foolishness on the political scene remember you are paying for it.