Argh. I really have to finish up our taxes. It’s not anything I look forward to, and each year it gets worse.

Being a musician means that taxes are fairly complicated. Some of my income comes from self-employment (private students) and some is from performing and of course some is from university teaching. I have to take all expenses and figure out what percentage goes on Schedule C and which goes on A. I have to go through phone bills. I have to look through the entire calendar to find out when I drove from one job to another for mileage purposes. The list goes on and on. Sometimes I think about not teaching privately only because it’s so darn difficult to figure all of this out. (But I love teaching too much to do so, so that will never happen!)

And I just read this:

“Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more, about one-tenth of 1 percent all taxpayers, reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each.”

And I’ll owe money. I’m just sure of it. I have to pay social security taxes for my private instruction income. This is, I’m guessing, social security money I’ll never see.

Ya think?

[Musicians] talk of nothing but money and jobs. Give me businessmen every time. They really are interested in music and art.
Jean Sibelius, explaining why he rarely invited musicians to his home.

Oops … sorry! I’ll stop whining now. Time to practice anyway. Or maybe do taxes. Which should I choose, hmmm?
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