06. Taxes don’t have to suck – 3 Mindset Reframes that we can make to feel better about Paying Taxes
Taxes can understandably seem scary and stressful. But they don’t have to suck. In this episode of The Money Mindset Shift we are reviewing 3 money mindset reframes that we can make to feel better about paying taxes.
Disclaimer – I’m not a tax expert. We will not be going over how to file or where to put certain deductions or anything like that. This is purely mindset work. If you have tax questions, I recommend seeking out someone with the appropriate qualifications.
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Warning: I do swear in this episode.
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Transcription
Taxes don’t have to suck. Today on the Money Mindset Shift we are reviewing 3 money mindset reframes that we can make to feel better about paying taxes.
So right off the bat, I have to tell you – I am not a tax expert.
And we are not talking about how to file your taxes or anything like that. In this episode of the Money Mindset shift, we are talking about 3 mindset reframes that we can make to feel better about paying taxes.
It doesn’t have to be a painful process.
But I understand that it feels scary and shocking to be suddenly paying taxes rather than receiving tax refunds.
I’ve been there.
This past tax season, I had to pay taxes for the first time. Approximately $2600.
Reading that number was scary. It was new, different. The year before we were measuring our refund in the number of Nintendo Switches we could buy. (We only bought one, but it was a fun measuring tool and our tax preparer was laughing with us.)
That was not the case this time.
And it felt like a substantial amount of money to be releasing at the time.
My mind was going “Holy shit! We are supposed to pay this?”
But, about a week later, I paid it and I felt better about it. It was still a little scary, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Here’s what I did to shift that.
1. Taxes aren’t the government stealing your money. They are part of living in a society and supporting others. Taxes, in the United States, and probably elsewhere – they go towards fixing the roads, paying teachers, creating and maintaining public libraries, giving people in need resources. It is a privilege to pay this. I would be doing these things anyway, because I care about others and want to contribute to making the world a better place. Taxes are one way I get to do that.
You also care. That’s part of why you started a business. You wanted to support people – be it with a product or service. You want to make the lives of others better. And we do that in more ways than just offering our services or products – we also do it through paying our taxes. We get to support people who may never make a purchase from us. People we may never know get to be supported because of us. That’s pretty magical.
2. $2,600 is an amount that we could easily make back. It helped that we would be receiving our stimulus checks around the same time. But also, I run a business. I could easily launch something, open a 1:1, etc – and make back that money. Money circulates. It goes out and it comes back. Same goes for you. The beautiful thing about having a business and running our own businesses is that we get to decide how it goes. We get to say, “okay, that feels scary. But I can also find a way to replace that money and more.”
This one does take some belief that money is always making its way to you. That there is more money to be made. I believe that both of these things are true. And you can see it in your life, even when you have a down turn or experience a speed bump in your business, you still tend to make more money. Each dollar is one more that you didn’t have before. It is one more that you didn’t make before.
3. Paying taxes also means that we are making more money. At some point we experience that tax flip from receiving refunds to paying taxes. It is part of growing. But it also REFLECTS the growth that you’ve experienced. In this way, taxes become a marker of growth. A marker of the success you have had thus far.
“You’re paying more in taxes this year? Wow! You must have made a lot more money than last year!”
That’s what it meant for me. I made 2.5 times more in 2020 than I did in 2019. So we can reframe the outgoing money from being less money we have to being a badge of honor because we’ve made more!
Taxes, much like money, don’t have to be a bad thing. Although it can definitely be jarring to suddenly be paying taxes when you are used to receiving a refund, it can be reframed as a positive thing. Or even something a bit more neutral.
Tell us, which of these reframes is your favorite? How do you see paying taxes? Connect with us on Instagram @shelbymelissa to share your thoughts on this episode of the Money Mindset Shift!
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