By MARK BLEVINS
Princeton Times
April 04, 2008 09:49 am
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I’m always an early bird. I can’t help it. I usually arrive at work 15 minutes early, and I tend to get to assignments 10 minutes early or so. I’ve always been early, no matter what job I had. I think I get it from my dad because he’s always been early too.
That doesn’t mean I like to get up early, mind you. I just don’t want to be late for whatever I’m going to attend.
April is known for many things, including being the cruelest month, as poet T.S. Eliot wrote in the opening lines of his poem “The Waste Lands.” We play tricks on one another during April Fool’s Day, and it’s known as a wet month that helps bring about May flowers. What April is most known for, though, is tax time. April 15 is the deadline for people to pay their taxes, if they, like me, owe anything to the U.S. government.
Very few people enjoy giving the government more money than what is already taken out of their paycheck. I’ve read where some very wealthy entertainers said they didn’t mind paying their taxes and thought they weren’t paying enough. They can pay my share if they want, that is if they’re not somehow evading the IRS to begin with.
How does all this tie in to my being an early bird? I already paid my taxes weeks ago. I wanted to wait. I truly did, because I think I pay enough in taxes to begin with, as do most working people. I still couldn’t bring myself to wait around until it got closer to the deadline. I’m always early.
Under this year’s economic stimulus package, I’ll be getting back a portion of what I gave to the IRS. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I send it to them, and then at some point, they’re going to send it back? I should’ve just been able to keep it to begin with so I could save on a stamp.
Being early in filing taxes pays off when you’re getting a refund. For the past couple years, I’ve been having to pay Uncle Sam a little more than what I used to. Someone told me I should get married and have some kids, but it’s a little late for this year in terms of tax deductions, so that idea will have to wait.
I would like to know where my money is going, and how the federal government is spending it, but if I found out, I’d probably be a little upset. Sometimes it’s best for me not to know, so my blood pressure doesn’t go up.
Most people feel this way about their taxes. The saying goes the two things you can’t escape are death and taxes. It seems like some people do make a go of at least trying to delay paying the IRS.
I suppose paying my taxes early is one thing that some people wouldn’t consider to be too terrible. I hate it when I have a bill or a payment hanging over my head. I guess that’s one reason I don’t own a house. I’m not sure if I could handle having to make a payment for 14 years on a house. Of course, the fact that I’m not very handy around the house is another reason why I don’t think I’m ready to become a homeowner. I can do laundry, though.
You have to look for silver linings wherever you can find them.
Since I tend to arrive at events early, it stands to reason that I hate it when I have to wait on people if they’re going to make me late. That’s the danger of riding with someone or having to wait on them. If you’re a person, like myself, who hates being late, it’s almost painful to sit and wait on someone when you know that if you went by yourself you’d already be on your way.
From getting to events early to paying my taxes well before the April 15 deadline, I can’t help but be an early bird. Someday I hope I will find a cure for this affliction. Better late than never, I suppose.
Mark Blevins is a Princeton Times reporter.
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