Taxes

Residents of private roads, which have been open to public use for six or more years, may now petition selectmen to provide temporary repairs such as filling holes, oiling surfaces, resurfacing and drainage installation. Voters at the May town meeting approved the new practice of using public funds to repair private roads if 51 percent of the landowners abutting the road sign a petition for repair. Last week, selectmen approved the new petition form and decided each petition will be valid for three fiscal years. The new practice is pending approval by the state attorney general for action taken at town meeting, after which, residents may obtain petition forms from the town administrator’s office.

Every quarter, I have to pay property taxes on the land and house I now own. If I don’t pay them, the town has the right to take the property away.

So in some sense, it feels like I don’t really own my land, and that I’m kind of just leasing it from the town. I mean, I know that it’s not really that way, but that’s what it feels like.

(This is from memory, so I’m paraphrasing, but this is pretty close.)

“You must make the following declaration: You swear under penalty of perjury that the information you’ve provided here is correct. To make this declaration, press 1.” — The Massachusetts Telefile system

I have to wonder just how legally enforceable that is.

Also, for federal taxes, I’d like to recommend TaxAct, because they’re free (without the income limits the other online providers have for free services). They just really, really, really try to upsell you to their “deluxe” and state tax products. I had a pretty good experience with them. And, I just can’t bring myself to pay any money, to anybody, just to get back what’s already mine, and been mine all along.

Illegal income. Illegal income, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity. — IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax

So, I just sat down with Microsoft Money, and it says that the government is going to give us a really big refund come the end of the year. Apparently, while becoming a homeowner is expensive, the government tries to make things easier for you by not taxing you on money spent on property taxes or mortgage interest. So, I just filled out another W-4 and intend to give it to our Personnel department tomorrow.

So, now that I’m kinda grown up and got a mortgage and such, I’ve been spending time putting together a budget to make sure everything works out, especially now that I have some concrete numbers for the mortgage. When doing the budget in Microsoft Money, it helpfully gives a pie graph of where our expenses are going. I noticed that a very large chunk of it was going toward our mortgage interest. It was about 20% of our monthly expenses. (Especially near the beginning of the loan, the vast majority of the payment is just paying off interest.)

Those of you in the area know that last weekend was The 2005 Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday Weekend. The theory is that this gives a boost to retailers, since it’s a sale at every single store, getting people to go out and buy things during a normally slow time. The long-term benefits to retailers, plus the short-term benefits in meal and gas taxes which are still collected, make up for the lost tax revenue.

We received our first property tax bill from the Town of Charlton.

Ah, the joys of being a landowner.

Whee… The government is giving back some of the money that it’s taken from me over the past year.

And for those who don’t know, free federal tax e-filing online is available from http://www.taxfreedom.com/. Some people can get free MA tax e-filing too from http://www.statetaxfreedom.com/, although even if you can’t most people can use the state telefile system.