No, not the NCAA basketball tournament, at least not this morning. I'm dreading the task of doing my taxes this week, before I go out of town next week. I'm either in for a pleasant refund surprise, or another annual gouging by both the federal and the NY state governments. It's usually the latter. An editorial in today's Washington Post discusses one writer's problems with his own tax forms -- it's quite a horror story. My taxes have never been as bad as his, but I can understand the headaches. However, the most important point in the piece is that the people who make the tax laws, Congress and the president, don't know how difficult it is for the average American to figure out the tax forms. Members of Congress can afford to pay accountants and tax preparers to do all the work for them, and they just sign the forms. But we have to wade through the paperwork or computer screens ourselves, and still wonder when we're done if the numbers are right. If the men and women in government could see how tough tax time can be for their constituents, would it make a difference? I'd like to think so.
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