The tax price of being President
24 more hours for a lucky few filers

No more tax snoozing

Alarm_clock_ringing_2 It's a little after 2 a.m. Central time and I'm through with our taxes. Thank goodness there's no state income tax here in Texas or I'd be bald from tugging on my hair!

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I just pushed things off to the last minute ... again. My excuse: I was working on tax stories (and the blog), so how was I supposed to find time to file my own!?

At least I did get the first estimated tax payment of 2006 in the mail before today's deadline!

The AP put out an interesting story yesterday that the hubby passed along to me. It seems that many members of Congress, including those on the tax-writing committees, hire professional tax preparers. I guess it just goes to show that even the authors of the legislation need help cracking the tax code.

Both the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee turn to pros, according to the story. On the House side, the minority Democrat on the Ways and Means pays a preparer, but the Committee's Chairman, Bill Thomas, R-Calif., does his own 1040.

The former college professor says he's done his taxes ''forever'' and that he routinely waits until the deadline is upon him to file.

"There's no reason for me to pay Uncle Sam -- pay, you heard that -- until I have to," Thomas told the AP.

I didn't have such a good excuse. This year we're actually getting back a bit. I'm going to catch a few ZZZZZs and then do a final check of the return before I shoot it off electronically to the IRS a little later today.

But I am having the refund directly deposited, so Uncle Sam should get our money back to us a lot more expeditiously than I got our paperwork to him!

Today's Tax Tips: If you're still working on your return, check out this Don't Mess With Taxes entry. It has some last minute tips that could help.

And if you're still scrounging for deductions, this blog entry looks at itemized options, while this one breaks down tax deductions that don't require a Schedule A.

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