My taxes for 2016 promise to be a nightmare

I have 9, count 'em 9, W-2s for 2016. Worked for 9 different agencies, several for only a week or two. I have 1099s for unemployment and state tax refunds, my wife's pension, all kinds of forms. I can hardly wait. Still waiting for a W-2 to launch into this shit. God help me.

Yeah, Maryland was in play

Congratulations to Republican Larry Hogan, a businessman from Anne Arundel County who put the wood to Gov. Martin "If you can dream it, I can tax it" O'Malley's designated successor, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. I don't think Brown's defeat bodes well for Democrat hopes in 2016, especially for Hillary Clinton. All the Democrat rock stars campaigned for Brown, to no avail:

Shortly after midnight, Brown conceded a race that he lost despite the strong support of the state’s Democratic establishment and visits to Maryland in the closing weeks of the campaign by President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Maryland didn't much care about what the Obamas and the Clintons wanted it to do. Folks here are tired of Democrats taxing pretty much everything (we have a rain tax and a flush tax -- think about it):

Hogan’s victory — a repudiation of the eight-year tenure of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) — means that Annapolis will return to divided government for the first time since 2006. It remains to be seen how much Hogan and his running mate, Lt. Gov.-elect Boyd Rutherford, will be able to accomplish with a Democratic-controlled legislature. Their victory sent a strong message that Marylanders had grown weary of the tax increases enacted under O’Malley, which Hogan harped on throughout the campaign.

Because taxing everything is what Democrats do, the fact that a deep blue state like Maryland has lost patience with that approach might be a bad sign for Dems in 2016. God, I hope so.

Missed it by that much

Yeah, it's an old Get Smart reference, but I fell 6 visits short of my traffic goal for January. I was aiming high, though, so it was a good month -- in fact, only three months in the history of Eff You have had more traffic. So I've got that going for me. Trying to do the taxes tonight, having laboriously gathered all the forms required. Might not finish tonight, but should be filed by Monday. Good luck on your own taxes, and enjoy the Super Bowl (commercials).

Maryland vs. Texas

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been running ads in Maryland letting Maryland businesses know that Texas is a much more business-friendly state. Hard to dispute, really. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley did a head-to-head event with Perry to attempt to refute Perry's claims. Given the tax rates, regulations and other barriers that exist in Maryland, O'Malley didn't have much to work with. It was a polite affair, however,  and no major fireworks came out of it.

Afterword, Perry apparently was at Morton's Steakhouse in Betheseda, where he said this:

In Texas, we pray for rain. In Maryland, they tax it.

Ain't that the damn truth. In Maryland, the motto is, "If you can dream it, we can tax it." And yeah, we have a fucking rain tax. I have to believe these ads might be effective:

I wish I thought this was funny instead of scary

Got my tax forms for 2013 already. Thanks to Ace for this: