Yipee-I did it!

Drum roll please. I am praising myself, patting myself on the back, and celebrating. And I deserve it because: I JUST SENT IN MY 2012 FEDERAL & STATE INCOME TAX RETURNS.  And I did it all by my lonesome and on-line. Well kind of.

Of course the main pre-requisite is that my wife had to leave the house.  So there I went to my computer, with twelve months of tax receipts and income receipts spread out all over the floor.
Of course I won't mention the company, only to say they "got me" for $39.99 buying their CD telling me "How simple it is to do you tax at home...save money...do it yourself". 

To save my marriage I will heretofore never do my tax returns by myself "on-line", and I promised my wife I will yearly visit an authorized tax person, as  I've always done in the past. The last words my wife uttered to be as she left the house were, "hey cheapskate...I'll be back late this afternoon...am not going to be around you as you do this, and by the way...YOU'RE NUTS".  God, I love that woman, but I was hell-bent on proving to her that I could do this.

At 77 years of age my wife and I receive a very modest income. In addition to our monthly Social Security we receive a modest income from two annuities, and a modest monthly income from our dwindling stock portfolio. I figured how difficult can it be to do a simple income tax return. I mean, after all, we're an elderly couple with modest income tax rules that we have always followed our entire adult working lives.

So forward on I  went diving into this never-to-be-forgotten task. After several hours and my wife still not at home (she knew better), my on-line self-completed tax return reflected that I actually OWED money. Of course, needless to say, I was devastated. Naturally I redid my entire Federal and State tax returns not once, not twice, but THREE times, only to reaffirm that I, in fact, did owe part of my modest income to the government of Ohio and the wonderful people of our Federal government who will spend my return foolishly of course.

So upon finally surrendering I hit the button on my computer to "electronically file" my Federal and State returns, and this is where the "stuff" hit the fan. Now my cost of $39.99 for the CD included the on-line filing of my returns, so I hit the button, and guess what? My computer monitor flashed "ERROR--ERROR--ERROR" all over the place. 

My computer monitor reflected that, while my tax return was well within the parameters of a legal filing, I needed a "password" to complete my electronic filing. Did they mean the KEY that was stamped on the CD? No, it didn't.  What freaking "password" were they referring to? I had no clue where this lousy password was. Of course my Italian temper exploded. Thank God the wife wasn't home.

Now this upset me more than being informed that I actually owed. Hey, I paid $39.99, and it said the cost covered my electronic filing. So after many attempts laced with words that I cannot write, I just gave up. I hit the "PRINT" button. I printed out my separate Federal and State tax returns, included the checks paying what I owed,  put the returns in large envelopes, and headed for the Post Office.

My wife returned, and I told her my tax filing episode. After I told her that I "had to pay this year", she said words and called me names that I cannot write in this blog. God I love that woman.

So, in summation for today's blog  I want to give former Treasury Secretary Tim (no tax) Geithner a pass for not filing his tax returns for several years, cause I know it's hard work. I also want to extend a pass to all the federal employees that will not file their tax returns. Hey, again, I repeat, it's hard work. I know. 

Of course, this is my best attempt at sarcasm. Why can a simple modest man like me follow the IRS rules of filing a tax return every year of my working life, and yet a Treasury Secretary, along with thousands of government employees refuse to file their tax returns? Is it not a law that all Americans abide by these laws?

Oh yeah, I hope that some of my tax payment to the government helps pay for Joe Biden's $Half-Million hotel bill in Paris.

And that's Politics with Pete for today...God bless our country...and our troops.