Fasten your seat belts, or get out of the car.
I am about to rant.
Last night Hub Man and I did our Federal Tax return.
We used Turbo Tax software (for the third year).
The first two times we used it, we were very happy. It was simple, fast and straightforward.
But something went amuck this year.
For one thing, there were about 4 different versions to choose from this year and I had the devil of a time deciding which one to buy. I finally settled on one that said it had the State taxes included and a free e-file too. Great! So I plunked down FIFTY dollars (send in for a 10 dollar rebate) for this software.
We started it up last night and realized pretty quickly that the formerly easy to use format had been cluttered up with more advertisements for more features you could pay extra for. (Buy Quicken for 60.00!, Get Tax Advisor! etc.) And when we were ready to download the State tax portion we realized that we would have to FIRST pay 29.95 for it (with our credit card) and THEN get mailed a rebate. Ditto for the e-file. (19.95).... So altogether, I would be shelling out 100.00 to these people and then wait around for their rebates?????????
Facing this information in the middle of the added stress of just doing the dang tax return was enough for me to start threatening people with bodily harm. I was so angry that they would expect you to be happy after already giving them FIFTY dollars to jump at the privilege of forking over another FIFTY dollars, that I could hardly speak.
We are never buying this product again, and I am going to write and tell them so.
And on top of this mess, is the mess of our Internal Revenue Service....... Service !
What a joke!
There is no good reason on God's green Earth why doing ones taxes should be this complicated and difficult. It is immoral and unethical to put the entire population through this grueling, mind numbing, life sucking process every single year.
Hub Man and I are fairly intelligent human beings, and we get frustrated and confused trying to fill out the forms. I shudder to think of the angst that must be happening all over America because of this crap. And lots of us are so intimidated by doing it by hand that we either take it to professionals or pay for software which only increases our financial burden and stress levels.
It's just wrong.
Filing taxes should be as simple as filling out a postcard or something.
Especially when the penalties for getting it wrong can land you in jail with all your worldly goods confiscated.
What's wrong with a flat tax? Everybody gives 10%. EVERYBODY. Donald Trump and Ma Kettle. 10 %. Take it out every week. Whatever you want. But please deliver me from "special instructions", and "itemized deductions".
And for heaven's sake, you government big wigs, when you get the money that my husband and I have worked hard for, don't you EVER let me catch you spending it on funding for some whack job artist throwing elephant dung on pictures of the Virgin Mary again.
Seems to me, that a major pastime of a LOT of people in America has become:
"Let's get somebody ELSE to pay for this."
There will come a time when, "Somebody Else" is going to hand you a reckoning. God help you on that day.
I think it's time for another Boston Tea Party.
I'll bring the cups and saucers.