A Very Taxing Day!

Today is the day we pay our Swiss taxes. OK...they really don't need to be paid until next Tuesday, but I like to pay them a few days early just to make sure that the bank actually pays them - unlike last year.

That's right! Our bank did not approve the electronic payment I had set up (two weeks in advance) last September because the amount....EXCEEDED THE MAXIMUM MONTHLY AMOUNT ONE CAN PAY OUT OF HIS/HER BANK ACCOUNT. Maximum amount?!?!?!?! Wha' da?

Ummm...who's money is this anyway?

All was well in the end, however, after the private banker dude gave his "managerial" approval, and the taxes ended up finally being paid - ONE DAY LATE on October 1st!

Not this year, baby! The payment is set up for today, and I'll be on-line checking our account on Monday. No payment? Private banker dude will be gettin' a phone call from TBF.

Oh...and the grand total of our tax payment?

Ha! You think I'd tell you that? Of course I won't. However, here's an equation that will put it all into perspective.

The TBF's 2008 Swiss tax payment > Our first house + Mrs. TBF's first car + TBF's first car!!!

I just love it when I hear people (usually American youth who have yet to have their first real job) say "I think we should pay more taxes!" In fact, I think the I.R.S. should just add a voluntary, non-refundable extra tax payment line to the tax forms (You listening to me, I.R.S.?).

You see?

That way you could fund bridges to nowhere, wars, and financial bail-outs to your hearts' content.

Friday Flashback: Home Sweet Home!

I get a daily "On this date..." e-mail from reference.com. One of the bullet points in today's e-mail caught my eye.

On March 2, 1987, [U.S.] government officials reported that the median price for a new home [in the U.S.] had topped $100,000 for the first time.

Can you believe that there were new homes just twenty years ago that cost under $100,000? Even our dinky, thirty-year-old, starter home was above the median. Sheesh, I know several people who currently have CARS that cost over $100,000!


It then dawned on me that Mrs. TBF (who wasn't yet "Mrs." TBF) and I bought our first home in Elmhurst, Illinois in 1987. It was probably right around this time that we were putting an offer on it, and we closed on it on May 2, 1987. We drove to the house right after the closing and took these VERY posed pictures: me (Look! Hair!) pretending to manually open the garage door (Don't worry...I painted it!) even though we had an automatic garage door opener, and "Miss" TBF opening our back door.

Ahhhhh, young love!