Satan must have invented taxes…

I am absolutely sure that every single person that stumbles onto this blog has at one point or another had to fill out one of these forms… a W4. I was first introduced to W4’s at my first job and was as stumped about them then as I am about them now. Although through the years I have become proficient at calculating my withholding (put a little -0- on line 5 and call it good), being married throws a whole new variable into the mix.

Apparently once you are married and filing jointly you now need to know the various tax equations that come into play on page 2 of the W4, the part we used to just throw away by instinct. As a math teacher I figured that these simple equations could not be any more difficult to master than basic Algebra, little did I realize that these were not equations… they were STORY PROBLEMS! And not only that, but they are story problems with missing pieces! How in the world am I supposed to know if my income from three years ago was equal to the ratio of earnings to loss in the Dow Industrial Average for the 2005 fiscal year? Now I’m being facetious but seriously, if anyone has a clue as to whether I am supposed to put a little -1- or a -0- in the box on line 5, please let me know.