death & taxes

Ben Franklin said it… nothing is certain except death and taxes.

Hero of the day goes to AARP Tax-Aide and mom. She has been using this free tax filing service provided to seniors for years. Through the pandemic nothing was certain but AARP Tax-Aide was tried and true setting up a system so seniors could file taxes safely and for FREE. I am a believer that these sorts of things should be free for seniors… why must we pay for the privilege of filing taxes and if we owe pay again or we get a refund that you should really consider the filing fee as a deduction from your refund. oh yay! I am getting 300. back?! no wait, you paid 225. to file your taxes so really your ‘windfall’ is only 75 clams. This is all hypothetical by the way.

In Alaska after a certain age (60) the elders don’t pay for license renewals, & you get lifetime car registration so you don’t have to deal with that year to year. In NC things are very different. I do believe if you have walked this earth for a long enough period of time and you have contributed to society in a productive manner and exhibited kind and decent behavior most of the time ( no one is perfect ) you should be afforded some perks… and not just senior discount Thursdays at the grocery store.

Mom prepared all the documents and put things in place so when the time came I would be able to take care of business. Thanks mom. For that reason you are the hero today. She even started her tax preparation.. she’s THAT person. So all I had to do was gather all of the parts, make the appointment, review her information and show up. I had the POA ( for the love of Buddha and all things living PLEASE get this paperwork in order for yourself! Make sure your parents and adult children get their shit in order too ) I was able to have a smooth filing process as I had all of the needed documents, 1099’s, POA, license for both of us, SS card and the checkbook with the ability to sign if needed. Really if there was no POA…this adventure wasn’t getting out of the gate.

So thank you mom, and AARP for making what could have been an arduous task easier. & a special thank you to all the accountants to VOLUNTEER their time so that AARP can provide this service. Why they don’t have this in every city IDK… but then again, mute point of the Government would just say hey elders, you’ve paid your share…tax filing is free for you after 60, we’ve got your back.

p.s. please support AARP so they can provide more services like this to support our elders. I know they send a million mailers once you hit 40 something. Just join, or donate.