#176 Death and taxes
Benjamin Franklin wrote once, “…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. I learned recently that this was part of a longer letter that he wrote to a friend in French. This was the last quote that he made famous as he died a few months after.
Taxes in Estonia are a simple business. You won’t find a country with an easier system to submit your declaration. It usually takes a couple of clicks and it’s done. Janne would remind me of this and we’d do it together.
What I realized now is that technocrats in this country do not think of death as a plausible scenario that people will go through. As I’m the sole successor of everything Janne owned, I am also responsible for submitting her tax declaration from last year.
I arrived at the tax office and explained my case to an official. I keep repeating the same line of “my wife died last year” in many places. It is good that I don’t shy away from talking about Janne. I don’t know what people who prefer to go into denial do in these cases.
The official tells me that the bank needs to submit a report. It usually is a personal business which you can do with one click on your own, but you know.
I had go to Janne’s bank. Luckily, I get the same empathetic customer service person who helped me with her bank accounts. She asked a question about how Janne used to declare as there are two options. She never told me of this. I just tried to get into her mind to choose the option as she would have. In the end, it was the right one.
I went back to the tax office. This time another official gets a lot of papers out trying to figure out how it should be done. She asked a lot of questions in Estonian which I think I answered right, but she starts drilling me with one that becomes obscure. She called for a translator. When she asked the question in English, I give the same answer as in Estonian. It just seems that the official didn’t believe my answer. With every question she asked, a new crack opens in my heart. I had to take a walk after as I didn’t want to come back home all broken.
Death and taxes, I have experienced both. Benjamin Franklin had it right.
