It rained all day yesterday; thus, I was forced to undertake my dreaded income tax preparation.  Because I’m a math idiot, I had to spend hours gathering, sorting, and organizing all my stuff for my accountant.  No way, could I file my own.  For sure, the IRS would be at my front door.

Math has been hard for me ever since the alphabet got involved.  I’ve never been to a grocery, nor boutique whose prices are x+y=z.  I’ve never balanced my checkbook; I can’t add a column of double-digit numbers; I can’t figure an area without a calculator.  Worse–I don’t care; I just glad I exited high school without being required to take Algebra  II and Pre-calculus!

But back to my income taxes and the heinous W’s.  Why are there so many?  W this, W that, ad nauseam.  Why do I have to list every one of my donations?  I would far prefer to give anonymous gifts to worthy causes, rather than to publicly declare to the IRS I bought violins for the strings program at an elementary school or a Go Fund Me account.  Further, I have to pay tax on my meager Social Security benefits and my gambling winnings.  Why?  I’ve already paid tax on my money.  Damn, I even have to pay tax on my book royalties.  Do the Feds not consider the time and effort I invest in writing a novel?  No!  This year I earned $21 in royalties and a fancy W form to be filed.

Admittedly, I’m mathematically challenged, yet I’m a creative thinker.  Why do billionaires pay no taxes?  Why do teachers get a $200 tax deduction for classroom supplies and a millionaire get to deduct his private jet’s expenses?  Even the current US President openly brags about not paying taxes for years.

Dr. Suze proposes a flat tax.  Five percent, ten percent, whatever works.  Everybody pays the same percentage whether they make $20,000 or $2,000,000.  Of course, that will not happen.  Hundreds and thousands of IRS employees would be out of jobs, CPAs and accounting firms would vanish, and I’d no longer have to spend six hours preparing and a year saving mountains of papers.

I must stop this rant; I have far more pressing problems….