(un)Happy Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day has never been my favorite holiday. Actually it is one of my least holidays, most likely because I’ve never had a proper valentine. One year when I was in middle school, I wore all black to show my distaste for the holiday. As you can tell, I was a real badass. Years later, after I gave up my “goth” look, I waited in anxiety to see if they would deliver those dollar carnations to me in high school. Sometimes a boy or two would send one, but I could always count on at least one girlfriend to do her perpetually single friend that nice service.

Well today there were no carnations, not even someone to talk about how terribly depressing the day was going to be. Oh no – today was the day I would meet my maker at H&R Block. Today was Tax Day and I was looking forward to it as much as the day that I wore my all black outfit to middle school. After a bit of a scheduling glitch (I say glitch, but it was really my tax lady asking if we could change my appointment from 9am to 11am because she wanted to sleep in and normally doesn’t work on Saturdays) I made my way with my $25 off coupon in hand and all the tax info she could possibly ask of me.

I knew that no matter what, I was in for bad news. I worked for almost four months as an independent contractor and had no NY taxes taken out of my check – I would certainly have to pay today (pun intended). Well slowly but surely my tax professional entered my info in and told me what was up. I now owe $749 to the State of New York and the IRS. Additionally, I had to pay H&R Block $179* because I had to file 2 states and had a 1099. Oh, I’m sorry, are my taxes too complicated for you? Thank the Lord I pay over $800 a month on my student loans (I never thought I would say that) because all the interest that accrued last year saved me close to 400 bones. The woman said there is a silver lining to everything … I said, “excuse me while I blow my brains out.”

So one hour of my time, cost me close to $1,000. I could have done a lot with that money, like buy myself a Valentine. This is just further proof that 2008 was the worst year ever. I rest my case.

*Reflects $25 credit from coupon.