No news item with this one, really - just figured that it would make sense for a blog titled "Why I Enjoy Paying Taxes" to actually address Tax Day itself.
Aside from the philosophical reasons that I'm cool with tax season, the many facets of which I've been detailing here for (checks calendar) over eight months now, there's another reason that everyone should be able to get their head around: pure reckless greed.
Sure, taxes being lower generally would result in more money in my pocket generally, but regardless of what rates the system involves at any given time, I make a point of only claiming one exemption with my employers, rather than the two (or three?) I'm legally allowed. This means that I technically pay a little more out of each paycheck than I have to, but not only does it virtually guarantee that I never owe anything in the event of an employer miscalculation (which has happened), but I can count on a big chunk of extra money coming back to me once a year - which I can then spend on something frivolous that I'd never have the patience to save up for, like a new computer or TV.
I mentioned this to a conservative co-worker once--in one of the primary formative moments of this blog--and he utterly balked at the idea of giving even a penny more to the government than I absolutely had to. It evens out eventually, I added, to which he replied that even if you wanted to squirrel a little money away throughout the year, you could get a much better return by investing it privately rather than trusting it with the government all year.
That brings me back pretty nicely to the philosophical argument, in that I'd rather give the government at least an opportunity to do something positive with the money compared to letting it sit in a portfolio, but even if you ignore that entirely - who has the time to figure that shit out?
I'd rather be watching my new TV.
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