The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

I’m doing my 2017 taxes today, the 1040, the Schedules B, C, and Self Employment. Crossing my fingers, but I’m hoping my quarterly payments cover what I probably owe. If they don’t, I’m trusting that the Trump Tax Cuts will, mostly because of those personal exemptions and because we never itemize. April 15th, the real Black Friday. Or Black Tuesday this year.

So it comes as a shock to read this morning that my neighbor to the south, Amazon.com, is paying less than me this year. Less than you too if you paid anything at all. Their tax bill on 5.2 billion dollars in profits is … well, zero. Zip, zilch, nada. All legal, all sanctioned, all approved by the IRS. Not that I’m picking on Amazon, they got their own problems what with the President Tweet-bullying them daily, mostly because their owner is also the owner of the Washington Post, the newspaper that prints stories unfavorable to Donald, faux news, he yells, fake news, he hollers.

But dammit, it grates to write a check to the IRS knowing that the 4th largest corporation in the world gets off scot-free. I don’t know about you, but I honestly don’t think I should pay more than Amazon. Sure, my little stained glass company is an economic engine here on the South End. And some years I’m even a Job Creator. But I didn’t get a mega tax break to open up my factory here – okay, my glass shack here — and the county didn’t have to woo me from settling up at the North End with property tax moratoriums. No, I just got treated like an ordinary individual, no special treatment.

The Supreme Court ruled that corporations are to be treated like me, like an individual, didn’t they? So why aren’t we individuals treated like corporations? The President won’t show us his taxes so we don’t know if he pays more than you or me. But I think you know he pays proportionally less. He is, after all, the Deal Master. Maybe what he hates about Amazon is they pay less than him even. Gotta grate. Gotta get under his thin skin. For once … and maybe the only time … I hafta agree with him. Meanwhile, I need to finish my taxes. Somebody’s got to pay for America.

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