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Tuesday, April 15, 2008
My Tax Questions

The IRS is notorious for answering tax questions incorrectly more often than correctly -- but, either way, if you get it wrong, it's your fault. So I'm not asking them. I'm asking you.


The IRS is notorious for answering tax questions incorrectly more often than correctly -- but, either way, if you get it wrong, even by following their instructions, it's your fault. So I'm not asking them. I'm asking you.

  1. Lots of Americans are cranky today. Is it because of the quantity of money governments take from us, or how freely and inefficiently they spend it after they get it?
  2. Apropos the previous question, when was the last time the federal government waited to spend a dollar until it actually received it?
  3. Which of Tom Purcell's collection of juicy tax quotations do you like best? (Don't ask me my own question. I can't decide.)
  4. The first page of my Utah state income tax form proudly proclaims, "Utah State Income Tax Dollars Fund Education." All of them do, in fact. I'm sure the reminder is supposed to make me feel better about my income taxes. I'm also sure that I understand the importance of education. So why does the reminder make me cranky about the public school system?
  5. When will our tax instructions -- between roughly one and one dozen pages per page of a tax form, by my informal count -- start telling us how to feel about our taxes, in general or line item by line item? Right now, they're pretty business-like about everything. It can only be a matter of time, right?
  6. Finally, why aren't we as cranky about taxes on other days as we are on April 15 -- such as every time we look at our cell phone bills or pump a gallon of gas?

Enjoy the day.


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