When I sat down to do my taxes the other day (or this morning), my hopes of a fatty refund were quickly dashed by the escalating red numbers in the refund/amount due column on the Turbo Tax page. No, I did not get married. No, I did buy a home. No, I did not buy an energy efficient car. No, I did not go back to school. No, I do not have plans on Saturday night. THANK YOU FOR RUBBING IT IN, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Sigh. I know ranting about taxes is old hat. No one likes to pay their taxes. But, when I look at my paystub every two weeks, it makes me so sad to see so much of my hard-earned money going (you can vouch for me, you’ve seen the blog posts), not to my bank account, but to various boring entities, like the Federal Government, the State of NY, healthcare costs, a 401K. I realize I should be, and I am, thankful for my healthcare and my tiny, tiny 401K. But, really, my paycheck is so small–and roughly a THIRD of it is deducted.
And, yes, my friends, there is always that thought in the back of my head that says, ‘It’s okay, Mary. You’ll get some of it back when you do your taxes.’ And that’s where the thoughts of what I’ll do with my tax return begin–get the coffee table I long for, buy a plane ticket to the wedding I’m in July, I don’t know, put it in my savings account. Reasonable things.
It is bad enough that just because I am not married, I do not have matching, dreamy china in my kitchen cabinet and lids for my casserole dishes. But having the horrid experience of doing my taxes point out all of the ways in which my SOCIAL life is a joke is just too much for a Monday morning. END RANT.
Hello? I Forgot My Mantra. 