Death and Taxes

Look here! The reliably strange and wonderful world of taxes!

Benjamin Franklin on that hundy like, "Whatever. Pay taxes then die."

Until recently, tax season was one of my favorite times of the year. Why? Well, up until last year, I could look forward to a sizeable return due to the many deductions I qualified for, particularly the student loan deduction, which I maxed out every year since I graduated college and then used my sizeable return to pay off more debt! Fun!

This year I dragged my feet on filing until tonight because I knew between my full-time job, my part-time job, and my freelance business, I would be owing y'all and owing ya big. And I was right. I owed the most in taxes I ever have this year. To be honest, I found the absurd sum kind of exciting. My democratic socialist heart was put to the test, and I'm happy to say, it passed with flying colors in like a super gay way! If only we had more functional and affordable healthcare and housing that my taxes could support in the United States of America. I dream.

I believe I've also looked forward to filing my taxes every year due to Benjamin Franklin's dictum, "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." Though tedious and though TurboTax gouges me every year with more tempting upcharges to protect me from both an audit and identity theft as though as soon as I file I'm going to suddenly become Sandra Bullock in The Net AND THOUGH it is most likely truer than not that my taxes are currently supporting a lot of general political and social dysfunction, I cherish the certainty of the yearly tax ritual. It is a reminder that I'm not dead. At least not yet.