Marathon madness

Tax Day 2013

The Boston Marathon tragedy leaves the household in a wake of confusion and distress. When calamitous events shake us to the core we turn inward in horror and spin-out in hopelessness. I can detach from the shooting pains emitting from the top of my foot and send waves of sympathy to the family and friends of the victims as well as those involved in the marathon from the folks encouraging runners from the sidelines to tv viewers, EMT’s who jumped into the mire and all of us who find out after the fact.

Spent the morning tearing out what is left of my head of hair while regenerating my tax returns. Incredulous that it could be so time consuming when I only worked at one part-time job, incurred no self-employment income and no second job last year. Taelor created her own tax returns and is no longer accountable for credit on my documentation. I have no assets to write-off, no stupendous medical expenses (ahem!) and no outlandish entrepreneurial lunch receipts or gas expenditures nor mileage reporting like other years.

What are computer illiterate tax payers doing? Although there are many agencies offering assistance it takes a tremendous amount of time, patience or Job and a dependable vehicle to get to most of the sites. Not to mention a telephone to schedule the appointment and all of the appropriate documentation in-hand.

Years ago I volunteered for AARP to help clients e-file tax returns and it was an incredible eye-opener. There were several cases of clients who carried-in boxes of receipts, others who brought their grandchildren in to interpret for them, still more who had multiple jobs and investment accounts that earned enough to report the income. Their stories of hardship and losses were moving and apparent. At the time, many lost much of their growing retirement funds and a few spoke of having to go back to work to pay for the basic electric and sustaining food bills. If I am in the position to be of assistance next year, I will volunteer once again. It is both humbling and puts my outlook on security into perspective. I thank the volunteers who were tolerant, unwavering, bleary-eyed, persistent and devoted to the clients. The long hours of training that began in January and finishes at the end of business day today are often thankless. I recall we even had to pay for our own lunches at the gratitude celebration..Hats off to you!  

And for those who are aware of the Marathon crisis…

She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts. - George Eliot