The Vampires are Coming!

So, we sucked it up and went to see our accountant today, to give him what he needs to do our taxes. Took both of us to carry all the paperwork in.

The advantage in being a writer is that you can deduct a lot of stuff as business expenses. The disadvantage in doing Schedule-C is that by the time we get done with that, plus our joint return, our tax form is as thick as an issue of Scientific American, and more complicated.

The Turbo-Tax software chokes and throws up, so we have to have somebody who knows numbers and the arcane ways of the IRS. (Every year, one of the local TV stations calls up the IRS to ask questions. Most of the time, the IRS agent offering advice gets it wrong. And if you take their advice and it is wrong, you are still liable. Is that a great system or what?)

I understand why George Harrison wrote that song, yessir.

The feds, state, and Tri-met all get a chunk, and with every legal deduction allowed, it still costs us a big chunk of our income to live here. Home of the brave, sure. Land of the free? Not so much ...