I own a house in Tucson. I rent it out. Seems simple, huh. Apparently not. In fact, this is possibly the most complicated thing in my life today.

The reason for the complication is not due to the fact that I have to find tenants. The reason is not because I have to keep up with repairs. The reason is not because I live 2000 miles away and cannot keep tabs on things. Those are all possible complexities, however I have a real estate business handling those things.

The single reason why this rental is an absolute albatross in my life is one thing; how to file my taxes with a rental.

There is absolutely no reason whatever why this should be complicated at all. But it is. There is nothing intuitive about how you are supposed to properly file this nor does the government help at all.

I have been trying to file on my own and I think I am wrong every single time. So I went to a professional. And yes, there are all sorts of things you have to account for. Depreciation, repairs, income, outgo, etc. Yes, I have all sorts of documents from various places telling me of these things, but there nothing on the 100+ page return that clearly tells you how to and where to account for what.

And this is just for a single rental property.

Anyway, it is absolutely terrible how needlessly complicated American taxes are. It is like a horribly ambiguous math exam the government gives you to test your understanding of arcane rules they themselves set up. And when they think you are wrong, they call you to the front of the class and embarrass you via an audit. In other words, they know the rights answers, they just want to see if you can play their game where they just make up nonsense as the game goes on. It is exactly like the game show Bamboozled! from Friends, no one knows what the hell is going on.

It really is a system set up for the rich to get out of paying their fair share by hiring high priced CPAs to creatively account for things and follow these inexact and nebulous tax rules. I guess I could be smart like Trump and simply not pay any taxes. But I, unlike most Americans, believe in paying my fair share and own the responsibility of paying the government so the country can run properly.

Just tell me what I owe and stop playing these games!!!