Sometimes, you've gotta stop and smell the miasma (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} readherring) wrote,@ 2008-04-14 23:27:00 |
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Deductable, schmeductable
Hey, it's late at night on April 14th! Guess what I'm doing? Right - my taxes.
All things considered, it's going pretty well. The folks at my office chipped in to buy a copy of Turbo Tax 2007, and I wisely took the last slot to use it. It's been very helpful, particularly because my taxes this year include the purchase of a home, five state tax refunds, and a smattering of charitable donations.
All was going well, until I got to the big drop I made to Goodwill shortly after moving in. Among the stuff I donated was a large box of brand new toys that I had accumulated and had always meant to bring to one of those Toys for Kids Whose Lives Suck Right Now charities, but didn't because they were scattered through the flotsam of my life's collection of junk. I managed to pull them out during the move, then gave them to Goodwill in a mad fit of dumping stuff to make room for more stuff.
Anyway, Turbo Tax has this online service that allows you to price out each individual item. A ladle, for example, is worth a $2 deduction. Disturbingly, all of the toys are listed under brand name. For example, here's the listing for Dolls:
Capitalism is odd. That's all I have to say.
Hey, it's late at night on April 14th! Guess what I'm doing? Right - my taxes.
All things considered, it's going pretty well. The folks at my office chipped in to buy a copy of Turbo Tax 2007, and I wisely took the last slot to use it. It's been very helpful, particularly because my taxes this year include the purchase of a home, five state tax refunds, and a smattering of charitable donations.
All was going well, until I got to the big drop I made to Goodwill shortly after moving in. Among the stuff I donated was a large box of brand new toys that I had accumulated and had always meant to bring to one of those Toys for Kids Whose Lives Suck Right Now charities, but didn't because they were scattered through the flotsam of my life's collection of junk. I managed to pull them out during the move, then gave them to Goodwill in a mad fit of dumping stuff to make room for more stuff.
Anyway, Turbo Tax has this online service that allows you to price out each individual item. A ladle, for example, is worth a $2 deduction. Disturbingly, all of the toys are listed under brand name. For example, here's the listing for Dolls:
| Bitty Baby Doll | $26.00 |
| Full-Size AG Doll | $62.00 |
| Miniature AG Doll | $11.00 |
| Baby Doll | $9.00 |
| Bratz Doll | $5.00 |
| Cabbage Patch Doll | $5.00 |
| Diva Starz Doll | $4.00 |
| Groovy Girls Doll | $5.00 |
| Precious Moments Doll | $6.00 |
| Strawberry Shortcake Doll | $4.00 |
This was their entire list, and as you can see, they are all brand name dolls. So much for that odd, stuffed Japanese robot doll I had in the box. Now, I wonder - how does a particular doll make its way onto that list? Why isn't Holly Hobby or...er, Barfing Bethilda listed? Sounds rather queer to me.
Oh, did you notice Barbie wasn't listed? That's because Barbie has her own category:
Barbie Car | $5.00 |
Barbie Doll | $5.00 |
Barbie Dollhouse | $27.00 |
Barbie Styling Head | $9.00 |
Capitalism is odd. That's all I have to say.
