How long does it take.???

Ahhh. . . that dreaded tax season is upon us--and I thought that I would point out some significant time facts for you--since many of us are under a time crunch right now to get those taxes done before 'the tax man cometh' on April 15th.

And even though selected congressmen like Charlie Rangel can get out of paying taxes for over 10 years without any penalties (AND write the tax code, for cryin' out loud)--the rest of us plebes must pay the piper, ON TIME, no breaks or special favors, end of story:



So here's how long some things take to give you a bit of a perspective:

• 1 second for a hummingbird's wings to beat 70 times
• 3 seconds for 475 lawsuits to be filed around the world
• 4 seconds for 3,000,000 gallons of water to flow over Niagara Falls
• 5 seconds between blinks of a human eye
• 10 seconds for 50 folks to be born
• 20 seconds for a really fast talker to say 100 words
• 30 seconds average between breaths
  
• 1 minute to touch the football 341 times with only the head, while keeping it in the air (actually done by Zheng Da Zong Yi in Beijing, China)
• 45 minutes to reach an actual person when calling the IRS during tax time

Don't stress about it--just get with your congressperson. Chances are they know some really good ways to avoid paying taxes altogether. . . Just ask the newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury , Tim Geithner:




After being busted for not filing or paying his federal income taxes for four years, Geithner finally paid his debt for the two more recent years--but NOT the two years prior. (apparently he got a break because the statute of limitations had run out on those years) It is very telling that only AFTER being nominated to Obama’s cabinet did Geithner pay up some of his debt. And what did President Obama say about this? He called it “... a common mistake.”



Senator Tom Dashchle has had his own problems with the tax man as well. It is interesting to note that while he was senator he screamed long and loud that citizens not compliant with the IRS be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Does that mean he will be prosecuted?



The list could go on forever--but suffice it to say that things are different for 'us' versus 'them'. . . so take a few seconds to blink and breathe. . . and then think about filing those taxes. . .because statistics tell us that it takes 28 hours and 30 minutes on average to fill out a tax form. . . (and that's if you know what you are doing)

Good luck!