Taxes
Doing one's own taxes is a sign of maturity in the United States. I feel that it is almost a rite of passage. It is a way of saying, "yes, I am ready to become a responsible member of society." It is hard for me to believe, sometimes, that there are people my own age and older who don't do their own taxes. Peers of mine still have not done their own taxes once in their lives and send them home for daddy to do. This frustrates me.
I don't understand how a person can be a college graduate and not be able to perform the simple task of doing one's own taxes. "What? They didn't teach you that at a four-year University? Good luck!" If I was a parent, that's what I would say. My conclusion is that if you are 22, or 23, or 24, and you are not doing your own taxes, you are a worthless member of society. How can you possibly be expected to function with the rest of the society if you don't understand how your earnings affect yourself and your surroundings? I have done my own taxes for three out of the last four years.
Granted, I was thrown into the D-I-Y mode faster than I wanted to be, but I'm pretty sure that if my dad (who previously did my taxes) was still alive, I would be doing my own taxes anyway. After all, I'm not a nincompoop. And it's not like doing one's own taxes is rocket science. It's numbers and it's economics, and while it is tricky, I feel like one should be able to learn it and do it at least once in his or her life. If you go through the rest of your adulthood and you pay H & R Block every year to prepare your taxes, fine. But at least once, every person in this country should be forced to learn and struggle and get through the often painstaking and frustrating task of doing your own taxes.
It is a privilege that we as Americans have as proprietors of a working class and a functioning Treasury that not all countries have. And it is our duty to learn about the system and use it for our own benefit and the benefit of our towns, our cities, our states, and our country.
I don't understand how a person can be a college graduate and not be able to perform the simple task of doing one's own taxes. "What? They didn't teach you that at a four-year University? Good luck!" If I was a parent, that's what I would say. My conclusion is that if you are 22, or 23, or 24, and you are not doing your own taxes, you are a worthless member of society. How can you possibly be expected to function with the rest of the society if you don't understand how your earnings affect yourself and your surroundings? I have done my own taxes for three out of the last four years.
Granted, I was thrown into the D-I-Y mode faster than I wanted to be, but I'm pretty sure that if my dad (who previously did my taxes) was still alive, I would be doing my own taxes anyway. After all, I'm not a nincompoop. And it's not like doing one's own taxes is rocket science. It's numbers and it's economics, and while it is tricky, I feel like one should be able to learn it and do it at least once in his or her life. If you go through the rest of your adulthood and you pay H & R Block every year to prepare your taxes, fine. But at least once, every person in this country should be forced to learn and struggle and get through the often painstaking and frustrating task of doing your own taxes.
It is a privilege that we as Americans have as proprietors of a working class and a functioning Treasury that not all countries have. And it is our duty to learn about the system and use it for our own benefit and the benefit of our towns, our cities, our states, and our country.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 2:40 AM
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