IRS and Taxes

Rebecca and I did our taxes, we have used H&R Block for them for several years. We started at 2:30pm and didn't finish until 5:30pm. H&R Block will not accept appointments before Feb 15th, or something like that, so we had to wait for 20 minutes to sit with a professional tax consultant. These tax experts seem to have pretty big egos. I guess working with people who don't understand US tax laws or even W2 statements and being treated as know-it-alls from February through April every year can go to your head. It is always fun to ask them if they are a CPA; their ego gets a little bruising when they have to answer no. Of course if they were a CPA, it would be doubtful that they would chose to work at H&R block doing my taxes, that would be like charity work for a CPA.



What bugs me is every time I do my taxes at H&R block (at least for the past 6 YEARS of doing my taxes with them) is this scenario. A tax question comes up, and I could get the answer if I had an internet connection and computer, but NO all I have is a stack of papers. This year, for instance, I forgot to print off a document for the taxes, and so Rebecca had to drive home, while I waited with Eleanor in the office. What did she do when she got home you may wonder? What did she spend 20 minutes of fossil fuel on to get from the house? Why she drove for 20 minutes (round trip) to LOG ON TO THE INTERNET! Eleanor will be laughing at this in 20 years, that is right Eleanor back in '08 we used to have to drive to a computer to get on the Internet. For Eleanor that will seem like what riding a horse to mail a letter is to us today! Hugely inconvenient. Especially given that in 20 years their won't be any fossil fuel left, BECAUSE WE ARE DRIVING AROUND TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. It's Not Stupid... It's Advanced



I could go on about how I took 3 hours to do the taxes, even after Rebecca spent hours at home getting documents organized so it would go "quick". I could go on about how tax documents are still being printed off on paper and mailed out and how wasteful that is in a world of email. I could talk about the complex tax laws in the US, how most middle and lower income earners pay more than they should for the only reason that the laws are too complex and poorly explained to be utilized by the people they were intended to help. I could complain that the only candidates that would overhaul the tax laws in the US will never obtain a nomination or even last through super Tuesday before disappearing into obscurity. I could, but instead I will post another photo of Eleanor.