Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Taxman
This is going to be one bitter/frightened/revealing post. Ryan - my own personal accountant son did my taxes for me. I was late because - well - I don't like opening mail.
It turns out I owe about $300 give or take a dollar or two. I also owe about the same for Ron. Ron didn't work at all in 2006. When he got sick in the fall, he had quite a bit of vacation time remaining. He used that and then went on short-term disablity because he was too ill to work. He didn't make it to long-term disability.
I didn't work from May - when I took a leave to be his care-giver, until November. At the time I said that the job I took the leave from cancelled all contract work while I was off. I had 6 weeks caregive benefits - that's all your allowed - can you believe it? Six f'n weeks. I could have collected employment insurance but I was in no state to go through all the red tape it would have involved in collecting it. So Ron didn't work and I only worked seven months and we (I) owe $600.
It would be one thing if I thought the money was actually being used for the people of the country - but it's not. Health care is a disaster. Education is a joke. I could go on and on but then I would be too worked up to finish. Canada pays the hightest taxes of all developed country - and for what? So billions can go unreported and unaccounted for by dishonest politicians. As one so glaringly put it in a recent scandal "I'm entitled to my entitlements". We pay 14% on top of just about everything there is too buy - or do. It's called the Goods and Services tax. If I buy a book - I'm taxed. If I have my hair cut - it's taxed. When I buried my husband - it was taxed. We pay a whopping amount of taxes on our income. I can't even bear to look at the pretax salary I make. Gas is an outrageous price right now - and a good deal of it is taxes. And then - as if we haven't paid enough taxes all year, every April (or May in my case) we have to go through the horrors and hope agains hope that we don't owe more. One year a number of years ago I worked at two part-time jobs. I had one day off about every three months. For the first time I managed to have a decent amount of money in my bank account. Then I had to file taxes in April. The second job didn't take out enough money and when all was said and done, I had to pay $1,600. It wiped out all the money I had worked so hard with nary a day off for. So I hate doing taxes. That's one of the reasons I haven't done them in 3 years.
But now I owe and I will have to pay a penalty for being late. I asked Ryan what I should do since I won't know how much I owe for being late. He said to send in what it says and they will let me know how much more. But then this brings me to another problem. I will be on the taxman's radar. They will probably find out I haven't sent in taxes for three years.
And another reason why I haven't done them - I haven't opened mail in that time. I have a lot of it in a cabinet - but I also have quite a bit in bags around the house - in places I can't really remember.
Lisa is coming over on Saturday to help me go through two years worth of unopened mail so I can find all the tax stuff. I know I'll be getting money back this time - hopefully enought to recoup some of what I'll have to pay this year.
It's going to be a rough day facing all that mail - I'm dreading it.
And the whole thing is a very bitter pill.
'til later
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6 comments:
What you said is so true! Aren't taxes crazy? I remember when my parents got divorced and sold all their combined stuff, my father somehow got off scot free, but my mother pretty much turned around and spent the money she earned on paying back her taxes that she owed.
My own personal story is last year I did not receive a T-4 from one of the places I worked at. I left on bad terms, I was not calling them up looking for my T-4. So, of course they sent in their side of things, so what happened? I had to pay the money I had got back because of it. It pretty much made me look like a liar. I was mad.
I could go on and on... here tax is called "Harmonized Sales Tax" where taxes are combined. There is only one tax on books, though... GST I think... Then, certain foods there are no taxes, but other than that, all my money I swear goes to the taxes. And don't even get me started on gas prices. It is May and gas is already over a dollar. Not saying good things for the summer!
I guess this is rather long... Good luck on opening all that mail!
Kailana: Taxes on food - fascinating thing about that. I worked in a grocery store so I knew some of the odd ways they had of distributing it. If you bought popped popcorn for example - taxed. Unpopped - not. Salted peanuts - taxed - unsalted - not. Chocolate bars - taxed. Chocolate chips - not. Cooked chickend - taxed. Uncooked not. Six or more donuts - taxed. Five or less - not. Feminine hygenie products - taxed.
And I remember the day when books weren't taxed but I guess the government needed extra pension money or something because the added it a few years ago - but it is just the one, not both.
Hopefully there will not be much more money they will try and get from you. My first year of university I worked the summer at Stelco and made some serious coin - all of it for school - and was counciled by the acct for Stelco to not have taxes taken off. Egads - a year later I owed over 1100.00 and Stelco never hired summer workers again during my time. I didn't have a job, finally got one in June at a petfood store making 7 bucks an hour and had sent in post-dated checks to the government because I had no money. I think I paid only a few bucks a month interest but still, I was floored.
With the houses we renovate I automatically take half of what we make and put it away for when the taxes come around. I always count 50% even though they say that's not what we pay. Still, seeing the tax amount Bob pays is sobering.
What is frustrating is that people who are just getting by and who are working (like you did) around the clock end up getting screwed in the end because they made more than they should have. Sue (my best friend) was floored this year when she owed money and I was the one that broke it to her. After looking at her T4s (she was talking about how far they had come financially) I realized she would have to pay tax. Not a great thing to drop on your friend and yeah, it was not a drop in the bucket.
Also, Bob and I have now maxed out our yearly RSP allotment so we can't pay ourselves, so to speak, and have to pay tax instead of saving for retirement. Ugh.
So yeah, totally with ya on the whole 'where the f*ck is my money going!?'
Take breaks as you need to on Saturday - I know you'll work yourself up (that's what I do to myself) - just remember that no one is judging and that most of that mail is now garbage. Really, you'll be looking for official looking government stuff and anything with your work stamp on it. And then anything about RRSPs. All else is trash and can be thrown away fairly fast.
CindyS
apparently taxes suck no matter where you live :(
man, it really sucks Kristie! Seriously, I don't understand all this tax business... and I agree with you, where does our money go? At least, if we could see the benefits of why we pay... I really hate taxes :(
I used to live in Toronto and the taxes just about killed me. I know you guys get free healthcare and what not, but the few times that I did have to go to the doctor there - it was a nightmare!! 50 deep in the waiting room! Don't get me started on (what I call) the double tax system there. Seriously, there needs to be some tax reform!
Good luck on opening your mail...it will be okay. :)
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