My Sick Mind

OK, so the pressure is off. I've filed my income taxes. I guess I'm supposed to be relieved, but I find myself feeling like I've been put through undue stress. Mostly because I feel like the federal income tax system is a burden on people - regular people, not people - and needs to be abolished . Why is it that the most feared day on the calendar is April 15? It's feared because we are told that if we don't have our taxes filed by then, our lives are in danger and the giant Internal Revenue Service will come crashing down on our lives like that big Monty Python foot. Get your taxes done. It's such a big deal that the local news stations will have people lurking at the big post offices on Tuesday night letting us in on the big rush to the mail box so that we get our returns in before the federal government fines us for being late. It's a billion-dollar a year business. I use Turbo Tax, but many people use the strip-mall tax preparers and pay for the insta...

I love the StatCounter. It tells me things. From the heartland (or so they tell us) the folks at H&R Block are snooping around to see what the blogs have to say about TurboTax. The big threat, I'm sure, is that people will find the courage to do their own taxes, thus depriving us of the privilege of paying through the nose for a service that generally isn't necessary. What bugs me about the Block search is that they read that tiny reference to income taxes interspersed with a story about my personal life. I should separate my stream of consciousness posts a little better. LESSON LEARNED. So, let's give them something to read, shall we? THE STORY: . Until I got married (the time I refer to as "My Great Sickness") I always did my own taxes. Short form - no deductions - just the old single, 1040EZ form, the one with the big boxes to fill in like a 5th grader with a crayon. They even show you how to make the numbers. Sheesh. When I got married, I was unsure of ...