Paid Up

My taxes are in, so I’m a fully-paid up American for the next year or so.

I’m not sure that the federal government has earned its keep this year, if I’m being honest here. The main reason why Europeans seem comfortable with taxes while the “taxation is theft” idiocy remains popular here in the US is that Europeans pay taxes and get services while Americans pay taxes and get illegal wars and bloated oligarchs.

I’d like to see Americans get services for our money, though. Such as:

A fully-funded postal system, rather than the systematically and deliberately starved one that we seem to have. Folks, the Post Office doesn’t lose money any more than the military does – it costs money. Not everything is supposed to turn a profit.

A rational healthcare system that doesn’t deliberately exclude the poor and the sick. The American model of private health insurance does not make health care more effective, more efficient, or more affordable, and once you understand that this model is a financial services industry that profits by denying care to those who need it, a lot of things make more sense. Again, not everything needs to make a profit.

An actual public transportation system that would reduce our dependence on automobiles, make our cities more livable, our air and water cleaner, and our foreign policy less dangerous, and also allow more Americans to get more places without having to devote a sizable chunk of their income to purchasing, maintaining, fueling, and storing vehicles.

A justice system that holds insurrectionists, corrupt corporations and the people who run them, wealthy criminals, and child-raping government officials to account would also be nice. I’d actually contribute more for that. How much could a wood-chipper cost?

And so on.

But whatever I may think of the intentionally and historically poor performance of the federal government these days, one does not mess with the IRS. As I tell my students when we cover Prohibition, it was not Eliot Ness who got Al Capone.

So I’m paid up, but not especially happy about it.

We’ve been going to the Tax Preparer People for a couple of years now, ever since my mom died and I had to figure out how my part of the estate would work that way. “Don’t try this yourself,” my brother told me. “Get someone else to do it.” And you know? That was good advice, and we've followed it ever since. So last month I took all of the documents I had in my possession down to the TPP office, sat down with my designated person, answered a few questions, promised I would obtain the last couple of outstanding documents in time for them to file everything by the deadline, and left. It was lovely, and worth every penny of the fee charged.

There were a few changes this year.

For one thing, we forgot that Oliver is no longer a dependent and didn’t adjust any paperwork last year, so we owed the IRS a decent amount of money. Darn kids getting older and turning into responsible adults! This is also the last year we’ll be able to count Lauren, so even further adjustments will have to be made soon.

For another thing, apparently the IRS no longer believes in paper checks (admittedly, who does other than me these days?) and is now giving the Big Frowny Face to anyone who doesn’t use direct deposit or withdrawal for their taxes. The TPP helpfully provided a couple of web pages that would allow me to pay my various debts online, and surprisingly enough this process actually went pretty smoothly. It all went through.

Next year, though, I expect some improvements. If I can’t get the postal system, the healthcare system, or the public transportation system, I’ll settle for the justice system.

Maybe they’ll put a little check-box where you can direct your extra contributions. It will say “Wood-chipper” next to it.