Well I am back in the land of the living after spending last week working on designs for multiple clients and calculating my taxes.

After reams of paper, hundreds of man-hours, and complex computations that would send “Deep Fritz” on the fritz (I exaggerate only slightly), I figured out that I owe the state exactly one dollar. I would have paid the state fifty dollars just to avoid the aggravation of filing.

But the one-dollar check I wrote to the state (using three dollars worth of postage) is not an accurate picture of what I truly contributed. Last year I wrote an article on the scam of withholding taxes. Seeing as the boondoggle is still alive and kicking, I thought it would be good to post it again:

“By now all of us have either paid our taxes or filed for extensions. If you have not done either and it is Monday, stop reading this article and do it. If it is Tuesday, I have bad news: the IRS man cometh.

“I did my taxes last week and I have to admit it was not in the least bit painful, thanks to the 32nd President. I find that fact very disturbing. F.D.R. had the most brilliant idea of all the Presidents to painlessly extort taxes from Americans: he called it “withholding.”

“Before you receive a paycheck, your employer — at the demands of the government — removes a portion for taxes. Each quarter your employer mails your money to Washington, D.C. It is convenient for you — and as I said, painless — but it is the worst thing to happen to our pocketbooks since the advent of the infomercial.

“Just think if you had to personally write a check of your earnings to the state and federal governments every quarter. How many needless government programs would remain? How many needless politicians would remain, for that matter?”

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