Taxes, Evasion and Elation

Who knew doing your taxes could be such a joyous occasion? Well, for a couple of reasons, this year it has been. First and foremost, I’m beyond elated to realize that Peter’s being born into this family has now provided for an unexpected financial boon. I assumed his appearance would have a positive impact on our taxes, but I guess I didn’t realize just how much. Needless to say, the refund we are expecting now that I’ve completed our taxes is far beyond what I had been thinking we’d get before I ever started. I’m thrilled. And the money will certainly be put to good use. When our lease runs up in July (for some odd reason, the apartment complex from which we rent only gives you an 11-month lease for the first “year”), we lose the “complimentary” washer and dryer that were a part of our “sign-on bonus.” We can’t live without them, and given that there’s no laundry facility onsite, replacing them is a must. In fact, we’d replace them even if there were a laundry facility onsite, since even that would be highly inconvenient for a family with two children, a near-absentee father, and a lot of laundry. But I digress. We’ve always planned on buying a washer and dryer with our tax return, but we weren’t completely sure just how much it would cover or how much would be left over. Now we know the answer – plenty! And that means we can start looking to replace our desktop computer, which has been threatening to poop out for months. This computer is something like five or six years old, which is probably well beyond geriatric in computer-years. I got this computer back when I was a “home agent” for the newspaper in SLC, which would have been 2003 if not earlier. Wow. Seems reasonable to replace it now, wouldn’t you say? Let’s just hope I didn’t miscalculate something on the tax forms – trust me, I’ve been worried that I have!

A second fun little surprise, which I think I’d heard about before but that I forgot until I spent quite a while trying to find some forms and how-to information online – Florida does not impose a personal income tax. In other words, I don’t have to file taxes here in Florida. Cool! How’s that for nifty? I still had to file a Georgia return, but next year, it will be federal and federal alone. That’s a nice little perk to living in the Sunshine State. And there are other oddities about Florida taxes which I have yet to fully understand. You don’t get charged sales tax on donuts, for example. (Yes, I would know.) Or on haircuts. There are a few things like that. I’m sure there’s some unifying factor, but I don’t know what it is. I think I didn’t even have to pay sales tax on some infant ibuprofen that I bought a couple of weeks ago. And it wasn’t even donut-flavored, so who knows.

I hope everyone else is enjoying tax season. Oh, and there’s some other special event going on this weekend, isn’t there? Hmmm….