Taxes Driver

posted by mihow on April 9th, 2003

Last evening I had a tiny, Indian man do my taxes. It’s interesting how the having of a full-time job pays the taxes on my freelance work. In other words, the amount of money I’m supposed to get back from the government goes straight back to the government and I break nearly even. I was worried this year I might get screwed. I didn’t. Not until I got into the cab, headed home.

The D.C. taxi situation works on something called zones. I could spend the time now explaining this strange set up, but even after understanding it, it doesn’t make much sense (to me). Anyhow, I have taken cabs to and from work a few times and it’s always between 6.90 and 7.90 (depending on rush-hour, number of passengers, etc). Last night the taxi driver talked my ear off about how HR Block is made up of a bunch of nazis who work for the government and how I should take my taxes elsewhere in order to win.

That’s fine. O.K. But my only goal was to not owe a lot. And I didn’t. He kept on keeping on, telling me stories about his job and what he had to deal with and how there is no reason anyone should get any of his money, yadda yadda yadda. (What a chump).

How much do I owe you.
I know the answer to this, but I ask it every time. I just don’t like to assume anything, one never knows if they’ll get a deal of some sort.
6.90 plus (something inaudible) ummm 7.90. NO! 8.00.

Ahhhh the old taxi driver, zone rip-off.

9.00. Yes, 9.00.

I guess you have to pick your battles, this was not one I cared to pick. I gave him a ten and moved on inside to have dinner with the coolest boy in the world. And it’s that simple. When you lay it all out on the floor in front of you, and you realize how nice it is, who can complain about ten bucks?

15 Responses to “Taxes Driver”

  1. andrea Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 05:16 AM

    I used HR Blocks online thing this year—- and got a crap ass accountant and it had extremally suck ass customer AND techincal support….and won’t ever use them again.

    And I’m not just saying that cuz I had to pay uber $$ this year.

    I don’t know if they are nazis though. I’ll ask next time. :)

  2. mihow Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 05:18 AM

    Yeah, you know, I would like to find an indie, but somehow I always wait till the last minute to do my taxes so I end up having to run to the nearest HR Block. Do you have someone here you like? Because from now on, I’m doing this shit quarterly.

    I get the impression they’re the McDonalds of tax. no?

  3. andrea Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 06:18 AM

    no, i havent found anything here to use—but i didn’t really look (mistake no.1)....but i am getting the impression that i would be better off to use a small non-franchise firm, if i were going to continue with freelance work i think. i need more helpful people.

  4. arjen Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:14 AM

    Allow me to top that. The Dutch BUS and METRO system uses ZONES. You have to buy a zones-card. the largest one has 45 zones and costs Ä18.50 (that’s more than a week on the subway unlimited in Nyc).

    Every time I get on the bus it costs 4 zones (on an average, short ride), so after about 11 rides I can go buy another card!

    So the bus is for wealthy people and students (who get to ride for free ?).

    — i always used turbotax. and i like it. it gits me money.

  5. Marjon Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:33 AM

    Yes, but Arjen, you know we Dutch don’t use the bus. We steal a bike and ride the bike to where we want to go ;-)

  6. arjen Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:37 AM

    haha. I’m to lazy to steal a bike the effort doesn’t outweigh the cash anymore for me. but oh yes do I remember the days, funny thing is, the stolen back always gets stolen from you again.

  7. dubstyle Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:39 AM

    the tiny indian man that did your taxes… is he the same guy that starred in “the Indian in the Cupboard”?

  8. mihow Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:41 AM

    Isn’t hard to ride a bike in clogs?

  9. mihow Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:45 AM

    dubstyle, I dunno. Did he have small fingers? Like super duper small? Because my tax guy sure did.

  10. arjen Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:45 AM

    When you guys come visit, I’ll be happy to teach you. I can even eat a hunk of chees while I do it.

  11. mihow Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 07:50 AM

    ha!

    I do love cheese.

  12. dubstyle Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 08:45 AM

    mihow- i assume he had small fingers… he was about 3 inches tall and was kept in a cupboard.

  13. nifkin Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 09:06 AM

    i did my taxes using a copy of turbotax, was able to submit them online, only took me a couple hours to fill it out. worked for my freelance stuff (thogh for last year my total freelance income was about nothing) and got my return a while back. i think it’s only on the peecee though…

  14. arjen Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 01:36 PM

    no it works like a charm on the mac as well. free state tax with rebate.

  15. nifkin Says:
    April 9th, 2003 at 05:14 PM

    useful applications available cross-platform?

    damn, who’d have thought that would happen…

    :]

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