Sympathy for the Founding Fathers (Rant on Taxes)*
“Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.” -Gone with the Wind
I felt as though I was finally becoming an adult. I was filing my taxes as an independent with my husband. It was a first for the both of us. We thought, as poor college students with a mortgage, we would be eligible for a small return or at least break even.
We were wrong.
As soon as our tax accountant crunched the number we still owed in taxes, I was doing the math in my head. We are already living on a strict budget. We have a big trip to Italy planned for this year. This big number would be a speed bump for sure.
I felt pretty angry to be honest. This felt like a punishment, and I did not understand why we deserved it. How could the US government demand more from university students? In my mind, I saw every unfair thing that had happened to us since getting married. I know life is unfair as is, but I felt that those that should be fair--namely the executive branch of the government, for example--were not being fair at all. And to me, that signaled anarchy.
This industrious, rebellious emotion rose up in me. I wanted to work so hard until I would become such that would not bat an eye at a sum of this scale. If living the way I had been-working through the spring and summer, and during the school semester-had brought me to this point, I wanted to turn my life inside out and upside down so that I would not be met by the same end. To an extent, I still very much feel that way.
But, at the very least, we built relationships.
We now have certified help via our seasoned tax accountant. That was one relationship.
We, for contributing our honest taxes to the government, established another relationship. To me, an honest tax is synonymous with an honest tithe. As a Latter-day Saint (Mormon), I pay ten percent of all my income as a tithe to my church. This is a commandment, entitling me to a temple recommend, a church building in my area, and a closer relationship with God. Presenting all of my honest earnings and paying a tax on it is like tithing to me.
Now, this is all my opinion and by no means applies to everyone. This is just me thinking this tax thing out so that I can feel at peace with taxes.
But after sitting down with a third party discussing our taxes honestly, I felt emboldened. I felt more obligated than ever to be involved in my local government and law makers. There is no guarantee that my taxes will be used honestly or wisely, (not nearly as wisely and divinely as tithing is distributed) but that's why it's up to me to make sure they are. Of course I believe to have a say in how my taxes will be spent when I paid them honestly. More than anything, I wanted to become more involved. Because we paid our taxes, we built a relationship with our local community.
So watch out, Provo. We're coming for you.
I felt as though I was finally becoming an adult. I was filing my taxes as an independent with my husband. It was a first for the both of us. We thought, as poor college students with a mortgage, we would be eligible for a small return or at least break even.
We were wrong.
As soon as our tax accountant crunched the number we still owed in taxes, I was doing the math in my head. We are already living on a strict budget. We have a big trip to Italy planned for this year. This big number would be a speed bump for sure.
I felt pretty angry to be honest. This felt like a punishment, and I did not understand why we deserved it. How could the US government demand more from university students? In my mind, I saw every unfair thing that had happened to us since getting married. I know life is unfair as is, but I felt that those that should be fair--namely the executive branch of the government, for example--were not being fair at all. And to me, that signaled anarchy.
This industrious, rebellious emotion rose up in me. I wanted to work so hard until I would become such that would not bat an eye at a sum of this scale. If living the way I had been-working through the spring and summer, and during the school semester-had brought me to this point, I wanted to turn my life inside out and upside down so that I would not be met by the same end. To an extent, I still very much feel that way.
But, at the very least, we built relationships.
We now have certified help via our seasoned tax accountant. That was one relationship.
We, for contributing our honest taxes to the government, established another relationship. To me, an honest tax is synonymous with an honest tithe. As a Latter-day Saint (Mormon), I pay ten percent of all my income as a tithe to my church. This is a commandment, entitling me to a temple recommend, a church building in my area, and a closer relationship with God. Presenting all of my honest earnings and paying a tax on it is like tithing to me.
Now, this is all my opinion and by no means applies to everyone. This is just me thinking this tax thing out so that I can feel at peace with taxes.
But after sitting down with a third party discussing our taxes honestly, I felt emboldened. I felt more obligated than ever to be involved in my local government and law makers. There is no guarantee that my taxes will be used honestly or wisely, (not nearly as wisely and divinely as tithing is distributed) but that's why it's up to me to make sure they are. Of course I believe to have a say in how my taxes will be spent when I paid them honestly. More than anything, I wanted to become more involved. Because we paid our taxes, we built a relationship with our local community.
So watch out, Provo. We're coming for you.
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