First of all, anytime Goose announces shows anywhere within a 6 hour driving radius of Portland, Oregon, it’s usually a good day. While the world seems like a dumpster fire, it’s nice to know that Rush, Bruce Hornsby, and Goose are all going to be in the PNW this year. Some good events are on the horizon!

Also, all but one of my important Portland State University tax forms is available, so I’m nearly ready to jointly file taxes early and get a refund. It’s shaped up to be less than I’d hoped, but give or take $2,400 is still better than owing more than that last year, and not expecting it. Every year, my taxes have been simple and rarely take much time. I’ve always just used TurboTax since I liked how easy to use, and convenient it felt.

However, this year, I’m skipping it. I’m sure there’s a plethora of data explaining why TurboTax is as slimy as TicketMaster, or Trump’s gold embroidered Holy Bibles being sold to Make Jesus Great Again (or whatever the fuck that scheme was all about, and I don’t care). However, after inputting the info, they upsold me to something I didn’t sign up for, an was going to charge over $200 to file with “expert assist,” a feature I never used and didn’t want. Called them, couldn’t help, so, I decided to try Free Tax USA, which is probably what I should have used all along. Slightly less intuitive, but all in all, it worked at a fraction of the cost.

As a side note, now that tips and overtime are tax free, due to the Biggest, Most Ugliest Bill of 2025, people have to keep meticulous track and manually calculate. Lucky for my wife, we’ve kept all of her 2025 paystubs, and I could quickly calculate our total deduction, and it helped a few hundred bucks, so yay… but it’s NOT a box on the W-2 form. What the actual fuck? Making tips and overtime tax free sounds great on the surface, but from a national tax policy perspective, it’s so fucking dumb. Just as much as this shit piece of legislation. As we say in property tax assessment, it further entrenches “vertical and horizontal inequities” both to eligible beneficiaries that don’t meticulously track overtime pay, AND to those who make their money not from tips and overtime. While many niche tax deduction programs are important designed to help our most vulnerable, so much could be solved by drastically increasing the standard deduction provided (and itemized too) would fix so many issues around income taxing the poor. Anyways, tax rant over for now!