Tax Free

Taxes.  Tax returns, or lack thereof.

I'm torn on this, if I'm being honest.

Of course, who doesn't want to get a tax return? Everyone - right? But in theory that doesn't happen. It can't happen, nor should it.

BLOTUS' tax changes did exactly what they were supposed to do..........for him and his "friends".  Give them huge cuts while the people he promised it would help the most aren't seeing anything in ways of returns.

If Facebook is any indicator, no one in my feed is at least boasting of a return. Quite the opposite. I get the complaints. I also get the rationale why people who are getting a return don't crow about it, though one friend did mention he's getting a whopping $77 back.

We are not the 1%, but I would assume we are in the top 10% (and yes, there is a HUGE drop off in those other 9%). So, I'm ok paying my fair share.

Oddly, with BLOTUS' plan, I didn't fall into his rich friends category or the "working class" who were supposed to, but didn't, get a refund. We are probably paying more than we ever have, which is the being torn.

Of course I don't want to pay that much, but I'd like to say we're paying our 'fair share'. And if it supports the infrastructure, schools, etc - I'm ok with that.  The issue I truly have is the 'fair share' part. Any number of people who are in that other 9% are skirting this - and are seemingly ok with it all.  And they are the first ones who want to MAGA........just not on their dime.

See how that works?

So, we will write our checks (yes, state and federal) and be done with it. That's more than I can say for BLOTUS.




Song by: Jimi Hendrix

Tax Man

Bitch, please!

When he says 'more time' he means, never. He's just hoping no one will remember or notice - and if / when they do, he'll flip them the bird - metaphorically, that is.

This scenario is not beyond reason. It has played out time and time again - even with the promise of producing them. The pre-campaign, the campaign, but not so much the post-campaign.

He's not filing. He's not showing them.  Suck on that.

The bigger surprise here is that he had to make a public statement about asking for more time. Why draw the attention to yourself.    Oh..........wait...............scratch that.

We, on the other hand, did submit our taxes............and pay them.

Yes, there was no federal refund this year. Oddly, I'm ok with that, especially in this day and age. Both of us are ok paying our own share. We need infrastructure, schools. libraries, police, fire, the whole works.  We have the money to pay them, so why wouldn't we?

I'm fine funding all these socialist programs.

I'll be interested in what next year brings. In theory with the tax cut bill, we will have a smaller one, or possibly a refund. I don't know if any of that is true, but by that time, the mid-terms will have come and gone and the GOP might get re-elected on perpetuating that potential fraud......but by then, it will be far too late.   ....like November 2016, all over again. 

Actually, that's not true. BLOTUS showed exactly what kind of president he'd be, and he has been that.....and so much less.



Song by: the Beatles

Tax Free

Today is the deadline.

It's not like we were cutting it to the wire, but no one wants to hear about filing taxes back in February.  April 15th is always "the date".

This year though is a little different. Due to the DOMA ruling last June, we are now filing our Federal return as a married couple.

In a way, it was a different ballgame. We probably should have had them professionally done, just to see what was what, but they were done in-house.

The numbers were crunched as filing jointly as married folks or individually as married folks.

Obviously, we were going to go with whichever got us the largest return or the smallest payment.

For the record, we went with jointly.

However, for State and City taxes, we are still on our own, as Ohio doesn't recognize gay marriage.

......or didn't.....

Until yesterday.

Kind of.

Judge Timothy Black, whom I wrote about last Fall, ruled that Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage recognition was unconstitutional. He did not go as far to say the 2004 state ban on same-sex marriage fell into the same category. That still stands. No homos can marry within the Buckeye State.

For the record, the suit that was to be filed on 710's and my behalf was this one, - though we were not part of this.  Clearly some other lawyer(s) beat ours to the punch. I know they were all playing political strategy  - waiting to see which appellate judges replaced whom, but clearly it's moving ahead....without us.

Black placed an automatic 'stay' with his decision, so nothing is really being recognized here until the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals can rule on it - since Black figured (correctly) that both the Governor and AG of Ohio would indeed appeal.

Now, I would almost get the waste of time and money on the appeal if this same court, and these same judges, hadn't already ruled on striking down the recognition ban in Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. Why does Ohio think the ruling will be different here?

And so it goes.

But Black's ruling, even without the stay, would not and could not have changed our state and local tax situation. We had already filed.

We will see what 2015's tax season brings us.



Song by: Joni Mitchell

Edge of Evolution

Ok, I have no songs with the word 'cliff' in them.  Who does?

I have a song or two sung by Cliff Richard, but I couldn't really make that stretch. It was too taxing.

HA - get it??

I love me!  (xoxoxo, me!)

I have a feeling, for my reading public, you already guess my stance on the "fiscal cliff" - a term that has been bandied about since before the election and has been in the news each and every day since.

It's not that I don't think the Dems can't find ways to cut some expenses, and I think they have, but clearly the GOP has learned nothing from their defeats of 2012. Their stuck in the mud mentality is well....stuck in the mud.

I get folks who forget history and are doomed to repeat it, but this "history" on what the U.S. citizens want (save the 1%) is only a few weeks old.  It is so not unreasonable to tax the wealthy and close their loopholes. Of course, I'm for taxing religious organizations as well (though in theory, that could blur the line between church and state that has already slid down that slick slick slope).

We are run by a group of morons.

Continually hearing about this has reminded me of some West Wing episodes of fiscal impasse. Art imitates life imitating art.







  Song by:  Alanis Morissette

Give a Little

Actually, I had to give very little back this year - and it was all in city taxes. State and Federal we're getting something back.

But today is the day - unless you've filed for an extension. Pay up, fellas.

As the years have gone by, we file by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin (no, that's not our asian exchange student). It used to be that we were so, um...not poor...living hand to mouth that we needed whatever refund we could get, sent back as soon as possible.

Even when we do owe, we can now get by if we have to write a check. But we don't take up the task of filing until later and later, and that's even if we have a refund due to us. Case in point: we submitted electronically two days ago. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh? At least it was not via mail where these morons wait in hour lines just to just drop it at a mailbox at the post office. That's just insane.

But filing isn't as easy as it was. Or EZ, I should say. Those days are gone. There are house payments and credits to go with our tax form. HSA roll-over and pay-out information and interest in some bank accounts that must be uh, accounted for. Stocks dividends and well, then there are multiple W-2's to deal with, for those of us who have had multiple jobs in one tax season.

The 1040-EZ form went by the wayside when I stopped raking in $14 grand a year. Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration. I probably stopped when we moved back to Cleveland.

Yes, in the eyes of the city, state and federal governments, I am, and we are, second class citizens. We don't have the same rights as some of you, but I get to pay for that lack of a privilege. I hope you're all happy about that, motherfuckers. I know some out there are - but not most of my readers.....or you wouldn't be here, would you?


Song by: Nicolette Larson