Tax Time

It’s another wonderful snow day here in Nebraska.  I really shouldn’t complain.  We only get serious snow about 3 times per winter.  The rest of the time it is just dry and cold.  That’s not so bad most of the time.  So I have put my writing on hold in order to get together my tax paperwork.  I have a file I put all my receipts in throughout the year and the time has come to sort through them one at a time.  It amazes me how many bloggers said they would review my book, had me buy them one and send it, and then they blew me off.  One of them was in Canada.  That wasn’t cheap to send.  I look at some of the receipts and cannot remember what they were for.  Trying to categorize them all is like playing five hands of blackjack all at once.  Once they are all sorted I list them on a sheet for my accountant.  I do this so there’s no chance of a slip being missed.  A lot of people out there do their own taxes and I did in the past.  I still do my children’s simple returns on the free Turbo Tax app.  When it comes to mine these days, however, I leave it to the accountant.  I just don’t trust that I will do all the deductions for the right amounts and have everything correct.  Even with his help, I always seem to owe money on my taxes.  The days of planning for a refund are long gone.  I must be one of those “Rich” people the politicians keep talking about taxing more.  (In case you’re wondering, I’m not at all wealthy)  It doesn’t help that in Nebraska they “Haven’t heard of a tax they didn’t like.”  Warren Buffet hails from here and it is said that he pays more in property taxes on his small home in Omaha than in his lush estate in California.  The schools here are state of the art but every election there is a new millage proposed.  Only once in the last 25 years has the millage been voted down.  When the last one was approved, the school board had to have a meeting to decide what to do with all the money.  If they didn’t know what the money was needed for, then how did they know how much to ask for?  A friend I work with has a son working on the school board.  He said that the millage passing meant his son received a $1000 bonus.  Since when do they get bonuses and why are my taxes paying for them?  We are a country of people who united because they did not want to pay taxes.  Today we still don’t want to pay them.  When you tell me the money is going for cancer research, road construction, free lunches for underprivileged students, defense or utilities upgrades I can understand the need.   What I can’t understand are studies to see how different colors of light affect certain birds, studies to see how much people like their car and the list of other wasteful uses of my money.  Maybe I should apply for a grant to determine the effect of over taxation on my buying power?