I finished my taxes yesterday. Whew! Am I glad that’s over. I always feel that doing taxes is like getting a root canal- not a pleasant experience but sometimes needed. I’m not sure exactly why I have so many negative feelings about it. Maybe I’m annoyed I have to give away hard earned money. I don’t know.
Maybe I’m agitated because I can’t afford to pay someone else to do my taxes and not worry about it. Not sure. Maybe it’s simply avoiding responsibility or maybe it’s the idea of spending time doing something I don’t want to do.
And the truth is tax software makes it as easy as possible to do taxes, so it isn’t a terrible amount of work. And it only takes a few hours to get done. It just took me a few hours of work, but it sure seems like a burden!
About a decade ago I got into some trouble with my federal and state taxes, and it took a long time to get it straightened out. I’m sure am glad those days are in the past! Maybe that is why I put off doing my taxes until the last minute. I delay as long as possible every year, even when I’m getting money back, which doesn’t quite make sense, but it’s reality.
I also had a bad experience with the local taxes at some point when I lived in Ohio. I discovered they functioned more like the mafia than a government organization. Worse, they outsourced their enforcement agency to a third-party bill collector. Not good.
I’m familiar with this type of collections agency from my Call Center days- and it isn’t pretty. I did get it sorted out, but I was given wrong information by the city itself than years later penalized for that wrong information, which hardly seems fair to me. It was a mess, and expensive mess, let me tell you.
For now I’m relieved. I’m done with taxes. Another year completed and I have time to not think about them. Glad it’s over. Wherever you and wherever you are at with your taxes, I hope you’re finished too and survived the root canal experience!
Have a great week!
Ernie