We were in Southern California last week for our annual confab with Lina’s tax guy (I am a mere wage slave, and my obligations are pretty vanilla calculation-wise, but L is an attorney in private practice, and there are many angles to be figured), and after we got through with 2016, the conversation turned to the present year. Tax guy ran some numbers and concluded that by the middle of next month the spousette will need to write a check to the IRS and another to the state Franchise Tax Board that will between them amount to more than she has ever made in a single year, this by way of “estimated quarterly tax.” Given that this is consequence of what will certainly be a record-breaking earnings year for her (even as I descend to the status of mere pensioner), I am not complaining, although it’s a shame that apparently none of the loot will go to, say, the National Endowment for the Arts, since apparently it’s all earmarked for plutocratic relief. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is said to have quipped. I look forward to its arrival some day.

cordially,

They discussed various options for kicking a portion of the tax liability down the road—I tuned out for this, reasoning that an accountant and and attorney can between them likely settle upon a strategy without my input—but I believe that the estimated tax payment is substantial because the projected 2017 earnings will likely be larger by a not-inconsiderable fraction than last month's impressive windfall, with substantial sums already in the pipeline. It's not a bad problem to have, and who knows? Maybe the White Privilege Tax Relief Act of 2017 will soften the bite.

cordially,