All I got was this lousy education

DH was in a bad mood last night. This is extraordinarily unusual for him and can usually be tied back to a specific source. Money. Or rather the amount of money that seems to be gushing out of our checking account at an alarming rate.

This past weekend I opened a letter from the State of Virginia Tax Department asking me to file taxes for 2009. I showed it to DH and laughed because we haven't lived in Virginia for more than two years. North Carolina and the Federal Government get enough of my hard earned money, thank-you-very-much.

We ain't laughing no more. Yes, that sentence did require a double negative to convey my annoyance. Turns out that when we filed taxes for 2006 we neglected to file a state income tax for me. Why? Because I did my internship for BigFinance in North Carolina and properly filed my NC state taxes. Both of us totally spaced on the fact that because I lived in Virginia for that year even though I made zero dollars in the state and paid out tens of thousands of dollars in tuition I still owned them money. The best part? Despite rock bottom interest rates we have been charged 42% in interest. Thank you, Virginia! I'm especially thrilled because even though my husband worked in the state during my tenure at UVA I somehow didn't qualify for in state tuition. But you better believe they will also charge me for income I didn't even earn in their state!

I'm hoping we can work some magic with the numbers and get the total down a bit. Isn't it lovely that this occurred right around the holidays? So, has anyone else had run ins with state or federal tax returns? Do I have any hope of getting some of that interest dismissed or is this a suck it up kind of situation?

Update: DH just told me that we now owe zero to the lovely State of Virginia. Woot! Apparently they credit us for what we paid to North Carolina which ended up being more than twice what we would have paid to Virginia.

Why don't you pick the lint from my pocket while you are at it?

Thanks for all the kind thoughts about my grandfather's death. I won't be able to make it back for the funereal so it really helps. Mommy, Esq. also has some great photos of him on her blog so check it out if you haven't already.

While on vacation for two weeks I have been out of the loop. Not just with work related matters but also with the news, both local and national. As I've written before I am a bit of a news junky. I love my NPR! I was listening to the news on Sunday and found out that our sales tax is increasing from 7.25% to 8.25% today. Um, hello?!? A 13% increase on our sales tax?!? I already think it is ridiculous how much we pay in sales tax because I'm more used to the 5.5% from Massachusetts. Not to mention that our school system is still pretty terrible so where the heck is the money going? Plus, aren't we in a recession? Is raising taxes really the right thing to do...why am I being punished because the state can't balance the budget? Grrrr.

So let's take the increase in sales tax, add to it state income tax, federal income tax and county tax. Yes, I'm looking at almost 50% of my paycheck running off to taxes. At least state and federal income tax comes out of my paycheck before I see it so it's not as painful. But the sales tax hits the bottom line, post income tax. Remind me again why I voted for the Democratic ticket? How about the rest of you? Have you seen any similar increases?