five thousand shades of blue
Friday, April 13, 2001
It's been the week from hell, capped off by a Friday the 13th. And I'm getting my taxes done today. Feels like the universe is playing an unholy trick on me. I am tired beyond tired, since I have not slept well in about a week. Stress does that to a person.
My rant today, after spending a few hours getting , my income, my tax paid totals together, and all that other fun stuff that will help bring my taxable income down, is all about counting a tax refund as income. Follow the logic here: I am paid an income; I pay taxes on that income; based on some factor or another, some of the taxes I paid out are returned to me because it's considered to be an overpayment...
and are then considered income all over again which I must then pay taxes on. Why does this feel like I'm being taxed twice on the same amount? Here's my simplification: someone gives me a dollar, demands 75 cents back from it, calculates I gave them too much, and gives me back 50 cents... but then demands 25 cents back on the 50. IT MAKES NO SENSE. Why is this legal? It is a refund on money I have already earned, not new income. Rant off.
Originally I had written a long and winding rant about the state of many things after my mini-rant up there -- but after reflection, edited it all out. It's not worth riling my friends over. I will say one thing: If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
is
this just not enough…?
