Death and Taxes

 

Death and Taxes

Unavoidable realities: death and taxes! Prepping for both is stressful, but for me the tax prep is the more taxing, pardon the expression.

Early 1940 and the blockbuster movie, Gone with the Wind was the rage! The great depression was just ending and people were more than ready to be entertained. GWTW had it all – romance, the Civil War, beautiful people and starred a pretty, spoiled, and indulged heroine, Scarlett O’Hara. I’m none of those but I remember my favorite line of hers. Fiddle de dee, I’ll think about it tomorrow!

I have always prided myself in that I’m a person of action. Active and not reactive – “I run my business, my business does not run me! Blah, blah, blah. However it appears that this doesn’t apply to me, when it’s time to get ready for the CPA. In Scarlett’s words, “I’ll think about it tomorrow;

For me “tomorrow” comes at 2AM when all problems are insurmountable, and every ache and pain means a life threatening disease has taken over one’s body - no possibility of going back to sleep until the problem of climate change is solved!

Piles of papers cover the desk. My small income comes in small increments from lots of sources. Wow – what happened to the money?! Depressing. Even more depressing is getting the itemized, end-of-the-year statement from my credit card company and SEEING where it went. Now come the resolutions…..no more being ripped off by Xfinity! No more meals out! Stopping the gardening service seems like a good idea – would do me good to do it myself! Do I really need new clothes? I’m not actually working outside my house. Changes will be made!

Because my property management business is managed in my home office, 10% of all household expenses are deductible. God forbid I miss a utility bill and $2.32 in deductions. Itemizing and organizing these expenditures is a boring, painstaking job, but it must be done! The only time I’m penny pincher is with taxes. After reviewing my credit card statement, it wouldn’t hurt to be a penny pincher in other areas!

I haven’t even begun to describe my resentment regarding taxes being a burden on the working poor and disappearing middle class. Why are we paying an inordinate amount compared to what is being paid by the tech moguls? When it is even suggested that a billionaires’ tax be put on the ballot - what do the billionaires do? They threaten to move to Texas. Hmm – Northern California with its almost perfect climate or Texas with it’s almost hellish climate? That’s a tough one!

Oh, and now we need to send in our money electronically – ye gods, isn’t it all painful enough? There must be some people out there who don’t have the means to do this. A question I find my self asking a lot these days: “Why does it have to be so hard?”

And now……...I need to go do my taxes!

Henry’s comment – OTD seems to be okay despite the ongoing work to repair the water damage. I again have found refuge in the closet.