You may not be interested in taxes, but taxes are interested in you.

— Lenin, approximately

I used to be interested in taxes as a purely academic exercise; it’s amazing how much a little real-world experience can change things. A few months ago, I got a letter from the IRS, announcing that I owed them a few thousand dollars. The number was suspicious, because it was exactly the amount I had put on a check to them on April 15th, which meant it was the amount on the check they deposited a few days later (the IRS is efficient when it wants to be).

A few phone calls (and a few hours on hold) later, I discovered the terrible truth. Even worse than owing taxes, I owed no taxes — to an organization that notified people of their taxes paid by sending them the bill again. That’s right: the IRS informed me that their notice demanding money from me was a way to let me know that they had gotten the money I’d sent earlier.

The Tax Rascal is Byrne Hobart, a finance fanatic who is paying ever-closer attention to the world of taxes. His professional work includes recruiting, web design, and consulting. He lives in New York, where he is working on his undergraduate degree in Math. He is the proud owner of three indistinguishable fish, and rarely, if ever, says no to pie.