Lessons needed to rebuild a life – Example 1

Yesterday, I helped a client fill out his tax forms for a job in our program’s kitchen. I say “helped;” I didn’t do it for him, though, and if he was gonna report being ‘exempt,’ I wasn’t going to tell him he needed to-that’s his call. I tried to explain exemptions to him. He said, “I don’t know, Miss Sarah, I was a criminal all my life. I never did nothing like taxes.” It was so humble and tired and sweet.

This is the simple kind of challenge that every one of my clients needs to learn how to overcome in order to rebuild their life, and then does, hopefully. It requires, not only their willingness to learn, but also patient teachers.

When taxes aren’t a windfall

As a child, I remember driving past billboards advertising to get your taxes done somewhere and “Get the cash you deserve now!”  I remember trying to make sense of it the rest of the way home. “How do those places get refunds faster than just doing it yourself? Are they directly connected with the government or something? Do they have forms with special powers? How are they faster?”

A few reasons to like tax time

Filing taxes – such a drag.

I can’t believe I’m blogging about it; I’m even at a loss for how to write about it in a way that will be interesting. For many people, though, filing taxes is akin to receiving a windfall.