Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound.
Let’s see… St Patrick’s Day, check. Good Friday, check. Easter, check. So what other major event is coming up? Wait…it will come to me….don’t tell me…oh yes! Tax Day! The Tax Man cometh! I am sure you are as thrilled as I am about that day, but it has to be done. I am proud to say I have already filed and received my return. Yea!
It is interesting to note that identify fraud around this time of year is very high. The IRS distributes over $300 billion every year, and there are a lot of people out there trying to get their unfair share. In 2015 over 200,000 individuals reported identity theft. However, good news is that in 2017 in the first five months it was down to just over 100,000 due to some processing changes. However, as expected the thieves have improved their methods and have moved onto taking on business forms, logging in over 10,000 attempts last year. Over the years this has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars, and though most got their money back from the government, it took many months and paperwork to get what really belonged to them. You would think with us being trillions of dollars in debt that we would find a much better way to stop this from happening. Do you know what their top advice to us, the taxpayer, is to prevent identity theft? File early before the ID thieves have a chance to file for you. A real comforting feeling…isn’t it?
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“The taxpayer: that’s someone who works for the federal government, but doesn’t have to take a civil service examination.” — Ronald Reagan
QUICKIES ABOUT MONEY
*“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million. “ — Arnold Schwarzenegger
*“All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.” — Spike Milligan
*“I have all the money I’ll every need, if I die before four o’clock this afternoon.” — Henny Youngman
*“I spent most of my money on women and drink and like a fool I squandered the rest. “ — Benny Hill
*“That money talks, I’ll not deny. I hear it once, and it said, ‘Goodbye.’” — Richard Armour
That is all I have for today. As always, be good, do good, play safe, and remember, when it is tax time, it may not pay to delay. JR
