Apr 06 2009
Tax Cheats
Years ago, I forgot about a small amount of money that I earned on a freelance writing project. The infamous April 15 rolled around and I filed my state and federal tax returns, begrudgingly, like always because, really, who in their right mind likes to pay taxes? A few months later, I received a lovely little letter from the Internal Revenue Service on heavy white paper with raised black letterhead. It was addressed, certified, to me. Warm and fuzzy words like felony, prison, immediately, and treble damages popped off the page as I read it. After reading the tersely worded letter about twelve times, I had this disturbing image of two beefy guys in wife-beater t-shirts with moldy cigars dangling from their wet lips coming to my apartment to chop off my legs if I didn’t pay up. Pronto. Evidently I underreported my income for the year, since I forgot to include the monies earned from the freelance work. So, I did what most normal American taxpayers without a Washington D.C. address and expensive lawyers do when they receive these kinds of love letters from Uncle Sam: I paid it. Thankfully, it wasn’t a huge amount. And I still have my legs.
| 3 responses so far |
