How to Understand Taxes: Making Tax Season Simpler

Tax season is upon us. And as a 20-year-old trying to become independent, I chose to pick up my sister’s old tax textbook and figure out what all these terms mean. I fell asleep in about 30 seconds (that book was so boring!) but I did learn a lot. Thus, I give you a few tax terms I’ve learned.

-        Bad debt: This is any debt a person accumulates, unless it was accumulated to pay their way through college. Debt from a shopping addiction or car you couldn’t afford is bad. Debt from trying to pay for a college education is good.

-        Qualifying relative: These are the people in your extended family who are invited to your future wedding. Typically, these relatives give you the really fancy and expensive gifts. Not the millionth scrapbook you’ll never use.

-        Passive income: This is the income the people who work at the front desk of the dorms make. They don’t really do much, but they still get paid as much as those that do actual, physical work on campus. To the best of my understanding, this term is just used by accountants to be passive aggressive.

-        Boot: I have absolutely no idea why it matters, but apparently the government really cares about footwear. The number of boots you own is a weirdly specific thing for them to know, but if it matters to the government, it matters. Have fun pulling your boots out of the back of your closet.

-        Tax research: This is what you pretend you’re doing when you finally give up on trying to understand taxes but are still too proud to ask your dad for help. You go to your business major friend, tell them you may be interested in switching to their major, and finally ask them to give you a crash course in paying taxes. They, being so supportive of their major, agree and somehow manage to confuse you even more.

Let’s be real, it was a terrible plan for me to try to figure out taxes. Tax season is a great reason to call my dad. He’s been doing taxes for years. Surely, he knows what to do by now. And I’m really good at smiling and pretending to know what he’s talking about. Good luck with taxes this year everyone!

*Disclaimer: although all of these terms really did come from a tax textbook, none of these definitions are accurate. Please ask for help from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.

Lacey Stecker is a sophomore

communication major from

Noblesville, Ind.