Next Generation Outlook

Why would anyone bother writing this? It should be as easy as making pie in the kitchen! You’re a U.S. citizen — pay your taxes. It’s as simple as that!

Sure, we don’t like the I.R.S. much. They always take our money. There’s always a bad rep associated with that organization. And in all honesty, when it comes to your income — in this bad economy — your money going bye-bye doesn’t look like a good thing.

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But know this: paying taxes isn’t all bad. First off, you probably don’t realize it, but you pay taxes every time you buy something at a department store! Shoes, clothing, jewelry, furniture, bedding, bath stuff, toys. Anything you can think of.

Secondly, if you’re smart, you deduct every contribution you make to the community — as in donations. For instance: GoodWill, the Salvation Army, even Habitat for Humanity. Other non-profits out there encourage you to write off every donation you make.

Why is that a good thing? Because tax deductions lower the amount you have to pay to the government. You can even write off transportation miles! If you work a job that requires you to travel on special occasions, know that every single mile you travel in gas expenses can be written off on your taxes.

Owning a house is important. A homeowner’s tax credit went into effect just in 2010. That simply means you have to own a house, and you get a certain amount of money in refunds from the government!

And don’t even get this writer started on the ‘tax refund’ phenomenon. If you play your cards right, if you set up your work allowances on your tax forms correctly, you can actually receive money instead of lose money! The reason being is that your job already deducts money from your earnings for tax purposes.

The bottom line is this: pay your taxes! Wait, you already do. So no more frowning at the I.R.S. They’re simply doing their job.