Damn taxes

So I did my taxes yesterday... I know I know, you're wondering where the real Graeme is and what I've done with him, since I never do anything ahead of the last possible minute, and it's still 2 months before taxes are due so what the hell is going on... but I did them. Get over it.

If it's any consolation, I haven't actually filed them just yet... I don't like the results so I want to go back over them in a couple days, but not until I've donated money to charity, and saved some drowning puppies, and pulled 40 nuns from a burning schoolbus. I figure a lightning-fast karma arms race might serve to re-align the tax stars and get those amounts I owe down to a more reasonable level.

So yeah... I paid $10k in tuition out of pocket for Presidio last year (ok, I actually took out an unsubsidized Stafford loan, but that's still effectively out of my pockets), but none of it is deductible. I can't take the Lifetime Learning credit of $2k/year, either. Instead, I owe a net of $1k to the US and Cali, mostly because of ESPP sales. Though I made those sales at a profit, so really I still came out on top. But you forget you have to pay taxes on that stuff a year later, and lord knows I never set aside the amount in anticipation of having to do so... so it's a surprise, even though it shouldn't be. Blah.

But I think the reality of it all is that I do well for myself, and I can afford to pay my taxes AND pay for tuition. And I'm still able to sock some away for my future family, and to help take care of my parents and sister and cousins et al, if needed... so... thank you engineering undergrad and University of Illinois for getting me where I am today. Oh, and the public school system. =P

So in the end, I'm not going to complain. The US needs the money more than I do... sorta... minus the war in Iraq.