Lines Not Present

The Post Office lines were much diminished from tax-filing-days past. The majority of Americans ("nearly 100 million taxpayers") now file their tax returns electronically and avoid the rush. Among those who do file on paper, the better-organized and many who are due refunds have already mailed theirs in.

I'm old-fashioned: I prefer mailing a paper version of our tax return. There's a solidity to the accomplishment, and its heft conveys a sense of the work involved. (I also confess to a streak of rebelliousness: electronic filing is for the IRS' convenience, not ours, no matter what they say about getting our refund a few days sooner. Why should we make their lives easier when they make ours so difficult? To be clear, I'm not referring to the amount I have to pay but on the labyrinthine complexity of the tax code.)

While we're printing the original return, it's no trouble to print an extra copy to store with the back-up materials. It's much easier to have information about each year in one physical folder, rather than to search for a computer return and a paper file when we're doing next year's return.

The Post Office is under a lot of pressure because of the losses it continues to incur. My small token of support was to mail the extension form on Tuesday. When the return is completed this summer, I'll be back in line.