thirtyoneblog

In addition to new gym members out the wazoo, January also brings the delightful season of the Walmart-esque tax preparers and their maddening TV commercials:

“Honey, I’m stuck.” “Well, ask for help.” “Can’t. We used a box. Box? Can you help me?”

H&R Block. We got people.

My personal opinion is, if someone’s taxes are simple enough that H&R Block can handle them, they are simple enough for even the village idiot to handle using TurboTax. Places like this drive me crazy because they fill their offices with employees who don’t know the first thing about taxes. I know this because I have known people who worked there, part time, who didn’t know any more about taxes than my dog knows. Not that those people weren’t intelligent. They were smart cookies. But they weren’t tax professionals. It was strictly a seasonal, hourly gig because they needed to pay the rent.

In addition to deceiving people into thinking they had real tax professionals preparing their taxes, these tax places also shop delightful extras like refund anticipation loans, which of course carry an interest rate akin to what you might find at a payday loan shop, or perhaps from a back-alley loan shark. Who in their right mind would do this? Of course, it’s my professional opinion that tax refund ought to be near zero, because why would anyone let the IRS borrow their money interest-free for a year when they could be getting it at the time it was earned via a larger paycheck? Why do people set their W-4’s to ensure they get thousands back in April, a year late? You don’t want to get me started on this, because it would be a whole post unto itself.

The point of this post is that apparently the IRS is trying to crack down on these practices which IMO border on unethical. The Washington Post had an interesting article on this today.

The Internal Revenue Service said it may try to prevent tax preparers such as Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and H&R Block from offering customers refund loans and audit insurance because those products can encourage fraud.

You think? I shudder to think how much of the government’s money (ahem, MY money) is lost to people who get instant refunds or, worse, loans against refunds which turn out to be bogus. And that’s just the consumer fraud. How much potential fraud is there in the companies that do this? According to the article, it’s estimated that last year taxpayers paid over $1 billion in RAL fees to tax prep services. In some cases the interest rate is upwards of 100 percent. That is just unconscionable.

I love the quote from Jackson Hewitt’s CEO: “Jackson Hewitt firmly believes in the taxpayer’s right to control their tax return information through a written consent process” Translation: We’re abdicating all responsibility.

And from H&R Block, whose spokesman said that employees don’t get commission on RALs, therefore “there is no incentive for them other than serving taxpayers’ best interests.”

Uh-huh. Because paying triple digit interest rates to borrow money that would be yours in as little as 10 days is definitely in a person’s best interest.

I’m interested to see how this plays out. These tax shops have a lot of lobbyists out there, but in the end, the IRS tends to do what it darn well pleases.

Ah yes, early January. The time of year when the gym suddenly becomes the place to be. All those “loseweightNOW!” new year’s resolutions are showing up in droves. I went to work out last night and there was hardly a treadmill to spare. A month ago you could fire a cannon down the middle of the building.

Which brings me to some observations I have made lately. It seems that everyone who is really into their workout routine is convinced without a doubt that their way is THE way. Not that being into what you’re doing is wrong; it’s just amusing to see the types of folks that exercise creates.

First you have the gym rats. The guys (and girls) who spend 2 hours in there pumping iron. They’re deadly serious. And convinced that nothing else will do for you what lifting will. At my gym orientation a while back I spent an hour with one of these people. Classes? Yeah, whatever, if you’re bored you can go to pilates or something. Cardio? Pfft, that only works one part of your body, and by the way do you know how wrong the calorie counters on those machines are? But free weights, that’s where it’s at. If you do this then you will burn more calories than you can imagine just sitting still, thanks to all the lean muscle you’re building. It’s all true, of course. I actually am finding myself lifting more than I ever have in the past.

Then you have the runners. Actually many of these types don’t care to go to the gym at all. They’d rather simply find a trail or sidewalk in the neighborhood and just take off. They can go for miles and miles. I actually envy these people because I wish I liked running more. In point of fact I hate it. I do about 20 minutes on the treadmill (and much of that is walking), then I’ve had all I can stand. It bores me to tears, TV or no TV, iPod or no iPod. But the benefit to your heart can’t be denied. The runners couldn’t care less about the social aspect of working out. They have no use for classes, and certainly no use for weights. They just put on their shoes and go for it, wherever they happen to be.

Then you have the yoga worshipers. They can go on and on about the strength you build and the muscles you tone, just from these classes. They’d never dream of doing running or weights; in fact many of them go to strictly yoga studios that have nothing else, rather than a more all-around gym. I think they probably have a point, though I’ve never been to yoga. I probably will try it just for something different, now and then. I recall a funny scene from that movie The Next Best Thing, with Madonna and Benjamin Bratt, where he wanders into her yoga studio looking for a “real” gym, and gets talked into staying for the beginner’s class, and is in some incredible pain by the time it ends. Not to mention, I do think there’s a lot of stress relief involved, and who can’t use that.

And all those people think they’re right and that’s the only place to be. It’s amusing when you think about it. Actually it’s a good thing we have so many choices. Maybe that way I’ll actually stick with it. Because I’m none of the above people. I’m just someone trying to stay motivated, and to me that means mixing it up and doing something different all the time.