Whew. That’s done, and done in time. Welcome the annual celebration of relief at having the taxes done. Done? Paid. Paid? Not this year! My taxes totaled to zero. Whew! I couldn’t have done it myself. Thanks.

Thanks to my tax preparer, Tamera Lewis in Freeland, WA, an excuse to visit Whidbey Island. People complain about the weather forecasts as if they could do better, but they’d only be guessing compared to people who studied for years and practiced for real for years more. For me, taxes are the same. I can kid myself that an ex-rocket scientist (with apologies to real rocket scientists) could calculate my US Federal Income Tax annual payment. My guess, or at least my worry, was to be ready to pay out a few thousand. The professional’s opinion, er, factual calculation, was zero. I like that answer better.

In 2024, I turned 65, had changes in health insurance, sold a house, sold some stock, bought a tiny house, bought some stock, and… I’m sure there was more. Moving from Whidbey Island to the Quimper Peninsula involved much more than changing my address. The trend is improving my mood and health, including my financial health, but it has also been months of personal turmoil during a period of national turmoil. Following the nuances of tax laws and worksheets would be just too much. So, my house is in Port Townsend, but I’m glad to ride the ferry back to Whidbey to let Tamera expertly manage my official and very non-negotiable obligation to the Department of the Treasury.

All that work and all that expense to get to a tax bill of zero. It’s enough to make me feel like an oligarch; nah. Seeing the numbers convinced me yet again that, despite my friends who gain acclaim for their famous frugality, I ain’t exactly spendy.

I am not spendy, and yet I’m planning on writing about my recent year of being my version of spendy. Selling my house and replacing it with a tiny house, has been a trade-off between a mortgage with a yard and a lot less floor space and a lease on some land. Stay tuned for that one.

Taxes are a confusion. They’re also a frustration with how the taxes are spent. Pardon me as I quote author and web-famous John Green.

“Public education does not exist for the benefit of students or the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of the social order.
…
So let me explain why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I don’t personally have a kid in school: It’s because I don’t like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people.”
― John Green

I am glad we have a country where we can decide to contribute to being kind, intelligent, healthy, wise, and generally happier. That seems to be out of style, but if you want the country to blow something up, or attack people, or make rich people richer, well, that seems to be the fashion. I’ve never been fashionable, except by accident. Fashions fade; come on, fashion, fade. In the meantime, it remains a privilege and a duty to be a citizen of a country with such an impressive Constitution. (Which is only a document, and as a writer, I think the recent draft is due for an edit and an update.)

So, what am I going to do with the money I mentally set aside for the government’s check? Not much. It is going to sit there as it was. Of the money I got from selling my house, I have hung onto about two years of living expenses because, even back in May 2024, I suspected 2025 could be bizarre. The possibility of our current turmoil was also part of the impetus to sell my house, my home. I’m glad I did. I’m also impressed with a friend who, in response to the dramatic shifts in policies, sold almost every stock. By luck, they sold at the peak. Maybe it was more than luck.

Taxes done. What’s next? Modern society rarely provides a break. We have to take them. As I type this, I’m ignoring some social obligations, avoiding some health care forms, and realizing that I forgot to put out the garbage. In other words, life.

And life is meant to be lived; so maybe I’ll take a slice of that tax savings, and take a short vacation soon. In Western Washington in April, that can be somewhat soggy, but even in a storm, we deserve some time to recover from stress, and more radically, maybe even have some fun.

Good luck with your taxes. I guess something called a Standard Deduction benefited me. Maybe someday we’ll have a simpler tax code, and even more importantly, we’ll get oligarchs, billionaires, organizations, and corporations to pay theirs. I suspect that if they did that, we wouldn’t have to do nearly as much. We might even end up with a country with a smarter bunch of people.

For those with a deeper curiosity, here’s a link to more of my posts that mention taxes. I’ve seen some big swings on little income while having shifting assets.