I did my taxes this morning. It took me all of 15 minutes. I will never again complain about the difficulty of doing taxes so long as I have a steady income with taxes taken out regularly throughout the year.

Last year was a nightmare. During 2002 I had worked for a political campaign and therefore was paid as a consultant - meaning no taxes were taken out of my income. I was advised to put money aside for taxes, but I had no extra money to put aside as I was getting paid such a miniscule amount. Needless to say, mid-April of '03 was a crazy time that I'd rather not even discuss.

So for some reason this year I owe the government 70 cents. That's it - no refund for me but on the other hand, no addition to my current debt (oh yes, I still owe a scary sum from my time on the campaign and am on a payment plan which may erase my debt in... I don't know, 40 years?)

Someone once gave me the analogy that if you work a standard Monday through Friday, nine to five week, you are not working for yourself until sometime on Wednesday. In other words, the first two plus days of the week, you are working and the government is collecting your salary. Does this actually make sense to anyone??  ¶ 4:49 PM