Tax Time RAnt

1.20.2023

Can I just rant for a second here please…

I’m sitting here the other night organizing my W-2’s, 1098 mortgage interest statement, IRA statement, HSA statement, Student loan interest and so on in order to begin filing my 2022 tax return..

Now, granted I was still waiting on a couple W-2’s (because I made a significant career move this year from bookkeeping/accounting to graphic design – which is amazing btw).

Anywhooo, I began entering the W-2‘s that I had received thus far and continued on thru the process. I claimed one dependent and at this point I had only entered in approx. $25k in income and have not claimed any deductions other than one dependent.

Still with me?

Okay. Cool. So, at this point, I am filing head of household, claiming one dependent and am only claiming approx. $25k in income. Turbo Tax’s money roll showed that my expected tax return was gonna be like $6k.

Cool right!? LMAO. Yea, no, not cool. I already knew it wasn’t a real number - I still had so much more income to include; and sadly, I can’t remember the last time I got that much back. Probably when I was able to claim 3 kids, paid daycare, worked minimum wage jobs throughout college and qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Alright, whatever, moving on. I received the remainder of my W-2’s, entered them along with my deductions into Turbo Tax and watched that bright green money roll number just roll on down.. and down, feeling slightly panicked as it stops right before it rolls negative.

Relieved I found myself thinking, “Well, at least I don’t owe this year.” That relief quickly faded into outrage.. “Jesus, I’d get back more if I made less.”.

Don’t get me wrong, I get pissed about this every year but this year.. Ugh, this year hit different..

The 2022 head of household federal income tax bracket goes as follows:

$14,650 and under - 10% of the taxable income

$14,650 to $55,900 - $1,465 plus 12% of the excess over $14,650

$55,900 to $89,050 - $6,415 plus 22% of the excess over $55,900

$89,050 to $170,050 - $13,708 plus 24% of the excess over $89,050

$170,050 to $215,950 - $33,148.50 plus 32% of the excess over $215,950

$215,950 to $539,900 - $47,836.50 plus 35% of the excess over $539,900

Over $539,900 - $162,218.50 plus 37% of the excess over $539,900

The average cost of living in Fort Wayne, Indiana is $55,987

Middle class American make between $30,00to $67,000

Make this shit make sense.

Disclaimer: This is my blog - so feel free to fuck right off if you don't like it. I'm trying to heal my emotional traumas and wounds - I apologize in advance if you don't like how my memories and feelings make you feel - but thats on you. That's on you to heal ;)

Thanks for reading!