Monday, March 21, 2011

Taxes and Addictions

I’m working on our taxes this week. I put it off as long as I dare, and I’ll be glad when it’s all collected, inputted, and delivered to our tax man. I truly don’t know why I put it off every year, but I do. ‘Individual Income Tax’ was first suggested in the US during the War of 1812, however, the treaty of Ghent was signed which ended the need for additional revenue, so the tax was never imposed. Then in 1861, again needing funds to pay for the ‘Civil War’ the US Gov’t imposed it’s first personal income tax of 3% on all incomes over $800. By 1866 over $310 million had been collected in taxes. In 2009 Individual Income Tax revenue was approximately $915 billion (this does not include Social Security, Medicare, state, Corporate taxes, etc.). Needless to say, I enjoy research.

On to another topic: I believe I’m becoming addicted to HGTV. I not only like the makeover shows, I like the ones with people searching for homes or apartments. I find myself turning it on for background noise. I’ve never done that before. I’m much more of a radio or CD person to break the silence. Something else I’ll have to contemplate, but in the mean time, I’m enjoying it.

I became a great aunt again last week. My nephew and his wife had a son on the 16th. We attend our fair-share of fundraising events, and I like to look for unique gifts on silent auctions or raffles. At an event back in January I’d purchased a baby blanket for this new arrival. My nephew and his wife can decide what personalization they want embroidered on the blanket and it will be mailed directly to them.

My break from taxes is over. I must get back to it so I can then hit my next WIP.

Enjoy the arrival of spring!

4 comments:

Paty Jager said...

My hubby does the taxes and he starts in on them January 1st and we are at our CPA's by February 1st. So we already have our refund. Good luck with your paperwork!

Interesting what we historical writers will find to do to procrastinate on other things... $915 billion.

We have only antenna TV so we don't get all these shows people talk about all the time. But I've been using the OPB travel channels as my background lately. Wonder what's with that??

Congrats on being a new great aunt!

Happy taxing and writing!

Joanne said...

Very interesting background on income taxes, I had no idea! I always enjoy research, and use it often to help develop my stories.

Lauri said...

What a wonderful husband you have, Paty! We dropped the dish network for awhile, (after the kids moved out). It didn't bother me, but hubby had to have it back. (I'm typing that as I'm watching HGTV.)

Thanks, Joanne, for stopping by! I loved your blog post for Monday.

Catherine Bybee said...

Our taxes are done... thanks to my hubby... it's so sad what we pay, and what our government spends. I don't want to think about it or I'll be a very unhappy woman. I too love HGTV... It's one of the 5 channels we watch.