Russ Hall

As a single, 24-year-old guy with two jobs and no investments, doing my taxes is pretty easy. In past years, I've had Mom help me because she's an accountant, she enjoys doing it, and I know that it would get done right. But, this year, for convenience and speed sake, I decided to give it a shot and it was terribly easy. I was able to free e-file, so I chose HandR Block's Tax Cut website and it worked pretty wonderfully. Granted, it basically walks you through every step, and as long as you don't mess up anything too complex, it's pretty easy. Commercials will tell you that the tax preparers will help you find every little bit of money you're entitled to and you can see all of the options that could help you get that, but I wasn't trying to milk the system for anything. One item that is kind of appealing is tax credits for donating things. Rewarding citizens for helping their fellow men might be a better situation than just taxing us and giving that money to others does seem more satisfying. And I remember, when I was working at Sprint, how much I appreciated the fact that you could donate cell phones that would end up in battered womens' shelters. Car Angel (www.carangel.com) is a non-profit company that uses car and other donations to make videos for kids and teens. They have given away over 2.4 million videos. Money raised is used to make the videos like this one. So, if you've got an old beater, make a car donation and get some tax money back next year.