Taxes. April 15th. The two commonly feared words that will cause dread and despair in the hearts of many. Even worse than the blue screen of death.

I saw my first blue screen several years ago, when my Windows XP froze and the screen changed colors. White text ensued, probably including something about "dumping physical memory." I remember freaking out and ended up pulling the plug. Not a good thing, but I didn't know what else to do.

Since then, I have weathered many reinstallations, virus scans, blue screens, and computer abnormalities, ranging from the simple computer freeze to refusing to reach the home screen. I have had to mess with the BIOS settings and do complete system overhauls. I even have a collection of those white UIUC antivirus CDs, given out by CITES in DCL, that I received when I had a problem that would block my computer's access to the UIUC dialup system (the problem was never resolved).

But nothing scares me more than a pile of tax forms.

Having barely survived going through my dad's 2007 1040 tax form, I can tell you that it's a heck of a lot more stressful than taking any SAT or ACT test. You can't redo those forms again, no matter how much you pay (in theory, at least). It's comparable to filling out college applications or financial aid forms. Except that there's a lot more to do and comes with thick instruction booklets.

On the form, we went through every single line. The wording on the form itself is vague, which is where the supplemental instructions/worksheets come in handy. What's your taxable income? What counts toward tax credits? Do retirement accounts get taxed too?

Luckily, my dad had assembled all his files in one place. But still, things got overlooked, like that one tiny letter about state tax refunds. Why can't the IRS just get all our statements and figure everything out themselves? Do they enjoy watching us suffer?

All of this makes me feel that the system is both against the poor people and that it's designed to get as much money as possible. Sure, if you earn under a certain amount of money, you don't have to pay taxes. But if you're poor and working (e.g. college students), how are you going to find the time to figure out what goes on line four and what constitutes your taxable income?

So if you're like me, tax-forms-phobic, you'll do anything to get out of all those numbers — and fill out the 1040EZ. Unlike the 1040, you don't have to do itemized deductions. In plainer words, you don't have to look for all your receipts. For some people, you'd get a lot more money if you do the 1040, since you can get money from Uncle Sam for donating to charity, paying off a mortgage, or having kids in school.

Which is good, if you're a rich person who can either hire an accountant or track down all your receipts. On the bright side, it'll create lots of jobs for accountants and IRS auditors while stimulating the economy. On the down side, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.

And if you can't afford to bribe someone to dig out crumpled receipts from the trash bin or scribble out some numbers, you might as well use that time and money to go to your local Wal-Mart and buy a bottle of aspirin. It'll be worth it.