Bummer

Taxes are never fun.  Ask anyone who has to pay taxes and they almost always make a face when discussing the subject.  The only people that are happy about taxes are the people that get some back at the end of the year and this usually happens because they paid too much to begin with. 

Since both Jay and I work in the tax arena we are constantly informing clients that they owe state and local taxes.  They are always shocked when they find out the amount due and try to argue as to why the amount due can't possibly be correct.  When we assist them in audits we work to reduce the amount due and it's really all about wheeling and dealing with the taxing jurisdiction to get the number as low as possible.  Sometimes the final amount due is a couple hundred dollars, sometimes it's millions of dollars.  Either way, they're never really happy if they have to pay anything, regardless of the amount.

Being someone that deals with taxes day in and day out, you would assume that I would understand the law and not be surprised when receiving a notice from our income tax preparer (yes, we don't prepare our own taxes) that we owe money for the 2010 tax year.  You would assume wrong.  I am SHOCKED that we owe money and I honestly believed we would get some money back based on the ridiculous amount we already paid, AND the fact that we had a baby last year.  But no, we don't get anything back and as an added slap in the face, we owe the government more money.  I should have a more level headed reaction but I don't.  I'm like every other person in the country that feels they pay too much in taxes.  We're getting penalized for making money.  In short, we got screwed!