yet another financial kick in the junk

We are working with our bishop to get our debts paid off and our family back on a viable budget. Certain things are going to happen, such as me getting a second job (went out and pounded the pavement yesterday for that), and other expenses are going to have to be cut. Like what, I don't know... we don't have any unnecessary expenses.

Anyway, today I got my annual bonus from work -- a sizeable sum that would have paid off two credit cards. We were pretty excited about it, and looking forward to getting a couple of monkeys off our back.

Turns out the bonus is taxed. I was expecting that, but since I'm in such a low tax bracket it wouldn't make that much of a difference. WRONG. Buried in the tax code, under "supplemental income", is a provision that requires employers to withhold a certain percentage of taxes from the bonus, regardless of the individual's tax status. Since I'm not officially exempt from taxes (I just don't have to pay all that much), I got a bunch of taxes withheld. Like, just over 40% of my bonus check after all was said and done.

Now, we can't even pay ONE card off, and I look like a complete schmuck since I have to renege on two promises with creditors that I've been fighting with for a few months now.

Yeah, life sucks. But at least I get to do something constructive about it.

I'm going to write my congressman about the stupid tax code, and request a refund of the interest I would have earned on the money, had I put it in a savings account rather than had it taxed. Since I'm going to get the taxes back at the end of the year anyway, this is just an interest-free loan to the government.

So, in short:

• Stupid government
• Stupid employers for not allowing me to apply for a partial refund of the taxes that were taken out. My last job would have let me do that.
• Stupid me for not asking ahead of time how much I should expect to be taken out.