A Tax Rant

Allow me a slight break from my normal fare to vent a little. No, I am not going to join some hyper-conservatives and question the constitutionality of the income tax, or whine about the loopholes in the system favoring the rich. In fact, I don’t even have a beef with the IRS, I am sort of happy with them right now.

My major goal for the day was to get my taxes completed and mailed. I know I should have gotten them done a while ago, rather than wait close to the last minute; but what can I say, I had a lot of other things to do and I procrastinated. The prospect of numbers and math does not get me very excited, even if it means I get a good deal of money at the end of the process. This morning I got the right booklet for the Federal Tax that I needed, and in the middle of the afternoon, I started the process. The directions for the Federal tax form were clear and concise, and the entire process was quick and easy. Encouraged by the ease of the Federal form, I immediately moved on to the state income tax. First, the form I was using (the short form mind you) was at four times longer than the Federal form. The large instruction book accompanying the form was anything but clear, written I am sure by a professional linguist specializing in governmentalese. Having struggled almost to the end, encouraged by the prospect of soon completing my task- New York State introduced a bump in the road. Rather than accepting the figure for the state tax withheld listed on the W-2, New York now requires another form, the IT-2 to be filled out and attached to your tax return. Of course, this form is not attached to the normal return sheet, or in the booklet. So, the end of the story is, since the library was closed which had the tax forms; I will have to finish my state taxes tomorrow, when I can get my IT-2, to record the same figure I already have on my W-2.

The Federal government made a big deal in recent years about simplifying the tax code for the average taxpayer. I think the Federal government has done well, now, it is time for New York to join the club.