It’s another new season. This one runs for most…in the United States at least…from January 1st to April 15th…that is unless you file an extension to file. Of course that means that you have to pay the taxes that are due by the April 15th by that date.
Now we all know we must pay our taxes or face the consequences…which we exaggerate to be the penalty of death or worse…an IRS audit. Still we will procrastinate until the last minute to hold onto our money as long as we can before we face the inevitable and pay our fair share…whatever that means…and again make sure we pay it on time. There seems to be a theme running through here…there is a deadline or there are consequences.
But this year there has been a major monkey wrench tossed into the tax works. A bomb of sorts that will cause havoc in the preparation of our taxes…the IRS has no idea what to ask (?) for because the Congress and White House have delayed coming to an agreement as to what amount of our income they should take, err request from us. In simplistic terms, this means that the tax forms the IRS sends out, on which we inform them of our income and calculate our donation to the government cause, will be delayed adding to my already form phobia…and they didn’t even have to file and extension. The forms will be sent out so much later than ever before and that this will make the pressures of the tax season on the average citizen resemble (or surpass) the last minute scramble for the 24th hour Christmas shopper at the corner Mini Market…still searching for that perfect stick of beef jerky and bag of Cheetos to place under the tree or in the stocking that was hung by the chimney with care…you get the picture.
Now if I were to be as far behind in reporting and paying my fair share to the government as the government is in figuring out what my fair share is I would have to file that dreaded extension or pay mounds of penalties and interest…possibly in installments for the next hundred years. Because the tax rules may have changed so much and were declared retroactive to the date of my birth, that they were, are and will be beyond my ability to pay. So goes life.
I have nothing left but to probably misquote a well misquoted axiom…”The only things unavoidable in life are death and taxes.” (And the only way to avoid taxes is to die…which is a sobering thought.) …and that I will continue to write whatever strikes my fancy as I trudge toward one or both.
As you fill out your form…remember…”Serenity Now.”
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