Monday, April 6, 2009

Death and Taxes

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."Benjamin Franklin

As for death, we’ve seen quite enough of it around here. And taxes? Well, those were filed months ago with refunds long since received. Or, more correctly, the ones where refunds were coming were filed. Now there's a deadline fast-approaching next week. Ugh.

Living in one state and working in another is a hassle that materializes only at tax time. Otherwise, those twice-daily trips across the river are the only evidence that I don’t live and work in the same state.

As a result, I have not yet filed my Illinois taxes. I’m not getting anything back from them, which more or less make the federal and Missouri forms more of a priority. Based on this news story, it’s probably a really good thing that I did Missouri in a hurry, too.

In Illinois, I have to not only fill out the state 1040 form, I have to fill out a CR form to get credit for what I pay to Missouri. Then, I have to send them copies of both my Missouri and federal tax forms. It has gotten a little easier with the advent of online returns.

That’s another reason why Missouri and federal tax forms get done first. I just key in the information and go. For Illinois, it’s not as simple. There’s a whole set of paperwork to make sure I include.

The kicker is not only am I not getting money back from Illinois, I don’t owe them anything either. At least not ‘til next year when our new governor jacks up the income tax by 5o percent!

Kind of seems like a waste of time, effort, paper, and postage doesn’t it? Especially when you consider how many government officials don’t bother to pay their taxes.

At least I paid mine. I’m just saying I should skip the filing part!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sing it, Taxes suck. The husband and I always have to pay the damn city we live in. What for, oh to keep them in the life they are accustom to. We the people sure in the heck don't see it in our quality of life. The government folks here are sticking it to us every which way they can.

Michele

Why S? said...

50%! Seriously? Holy cow!

NV said...

Michele -- Thanks for the support! I know you've got a lot of issues in your part of the world right now. hang tough!

Why -- It's going from 3 to 4.5 percent. Doesn't sound like much until you do the math. And any increase right now is TOO much. Really disappointed in our new gov.