Op-Ed: Paying dues

The season of filing taxes has come and gone, taking with it a fresh new taxpayer.

For me especially it was the first time I filed my taxes using a W-2 form, which is a form given to employees from employers. For many young working adults, who worked in the previous year of 2017 have recently face the next thing in line of the world of the adult. I part took in, what is both my federal and state duty as an adult, and did my taxes. Taxes, are as dictated; a “compulsory to state revenue, levied by government on workers’ income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions,” according to dictionary.com.  

Doing my taxes this year was not only easy, because I didn’t really have a to go through a long process of multiple forms, but also eye opening on the big emotional dread that other young working adults might have faced. Dreanna Juarez (19), peer and employee of a local  market has filed her taxes twice. “When I first did it, it wasn’t hard, cause I got help from a place where they helped me file.” For many the use of online tax filers such as TurboTax and Taxslayer are different approaches and forms to complete your dues to the government. Others will seek the help from an accountant who deals with taxes.

For those of you young working adults, who have entered the workforce and is getting paid through checks and such, or is a self-employed person. Here are some insights from what to expect when tax season comes by.

First off, taxes and the time to file them particularly fall on April 15, every year. That deadline represents the final and official turn in of taxes. Any date before that is also good, to get it out of the way. What I mean by that is that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) opens up the slot to file taxes around mid January. This year’s taxes for 2017 opened season on January 23.

What does it mean to file taxes? Well, taxes represent our federal government’s budget, relating to expenditures of our country’s affairs that are internal and external. Some of these affairs consist with our education system, our healthcare, military, and social security.

These are really important, and as working citizens who enter the workforce, we must remember that some our paycheck money is deducted through a automatic withhold of earnings. Now I know that for a fact the majority of you knows all this information due to the helpful lesson and instruction from your history teachers or economics teachers. Teachers and their classroom fueled by the federal government’s budget.

Now to the young adults who will be 18 and entering the workforce the labor pool, when your time comes to file taxes, keep in mind that the process to file your taxes is not all hard. It is only difficult if you allow it to be. Amy Mata, a young woman experienced in doing her taxes states that, “Don’t get overwhelmed, it seems like something big and foreign, like all the forms the possible paperwork… There are libraries that offer workshops to help you file your taxes. PAY YOUR TAXES… There are a lot of services out there that will help you.” When your time comes to do taxes just know that its not scary, it’s another important part of life.