This is a guest post by Green Panda’s husband.
It’s early in tax season and if you’re expecting a refund, then you’re probably looking forward to it. On the other hand, if you aren’t expecting a refund, then you still know you’ll have to fill out some very boring IRS forms and perhaps state forms.
One day, I happened to be looking at the individual tax form for Maine and I noticed that the form gives you a smiley face if you get a refund. Maine doesn’t do anything special if you owe money, of course. But, hey, that’s neat, there’s a bit of personality here.
After seeing this, I wondered if any other states put a little personality into their tax forms and went digging through tax forms for other states (some this year, some last year) to find out.
Well, Utah apparently didn’t want to be outdone, and decided to sympathize with you if you owe money.
As did Rhode Island.
But then Rhode Island apparently figured they could take it a step further, and added clip art to their tax form.
Illinois decided to add something like clip art. I guess they figured, “hey, as long they’re paying taxes, maybe they want to give more, too!” Well, at least they’re donations. But why is “giving” in quotes? Is there something I don’t know about?
North Carolina likes to make you fill in circles.
Interestingly, that example circle appears after the earlier circles. I hope you didn’t mess up in filling in the circles earlier, before they gave you that help!
Now, North Carolina isn’t much for clip art. Well, maybe a dollar sign sort of counts. Yes, I’m sure they want their money in dollars.
However, they don’t bother specifying that detail when you get a refund, though. Sneaky. (Either that, or they pay you in arrows? Tax forms can be so confusing at times…)
And, finally, Georgia has decided to help you out a bit if you failed basic math and are trying to figure out what percentage of your total income is taxable Georgia income. You’re on your own for all the other math on the form, though.
Anything I missed from the tax forms where you live?
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While these are cute, if I actually had to PAY taxes this year, it might cause me to think the government is making a bit light of me having to shell out more money.
Unfortunately, not much you could do about either situation.
It just gives me the willies to see the government trying to be funny. What’s next, smiley faces on the bombs?? Surprise singing telegrams for subpoenas?? A “You’ve Won A One Way Airfair to Guantanamo” sweepstakes winner-gram for terrorists??
Humorous forms from your government are NOT a sign of progress.
The federal tax forms are still as bland as ever, as are the forms of most states, if that’s any consolation.
Kind of cute. Like Randall, I’d probably be much happier getting refunds with them than not.
Unfortunately the whole not to exceed 100% is probably necessary. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people mess that up. With all the percentage figures we use (I’ll give 110% or “this has 200% more shampoo”) I can see why some people might not have learned them well.
On the other hand, if you’re getting a refund, then the smiley could be from the state’s point of view: you just gave them an interest-free loan. The frownie would be because they just gave you an interest-free loan (assuming you pay by April 15). At least, that’s looking at it from the perspective of maximizing the use of the money.
Some states explicitly state that the ratio of income in that state to total income can’t exceed 100%, and others don’t. I’m guessing the ones that have the note have had problems with invalid values in the past.
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