We have a system of sorts at our house for keeping up with our taxes throughout the year. When it comes to the plethora of receipts farmers acquire, we cram them into the center consoles of our car and trucks. When those begin to overflow we bring them to a five gallon bucket by the desk in the house. I have notes in my phone where I keep track of major expenses or major sources of income, but sometimes this gets really complicated. Let me explain.
So early in the spring I bought a tractor out of the repo lot at the bank. It had a knocking in the motor. I only gave scrap iron price for the tractor. My mechanic needed some good round bales, so I traded some hay to him for fixing the knock in the tractor. When he fixed the tractor I drove it to town and filled it up with fuel, I was kind of babying the new motor and driving it to town would help break it in.
While I was in town a guy asked me to spread some gravel for him with the front end loader, so I did. Then the guy asked what I’d take for my tractor. He has dump trucks and hauls gravel, shale and so forth.
We haggled back and forth on the price, we never could agree. However I did shame him into bringing me a couple loads of shale since I helped spread gravel for him. This time I traded some three year old hay for that second load of shale. He was only using that hay to cover some dirt work he’d done, he wasn’t feeding it to critters.
A few days later he brought the shale and offered me a really fair price for the tractor. So I sold it to him, but I wanted more shale and gravel as part of the payment, I was building a really big pad to put round bales on. I kind of only got my initial investment of cash back for the tractor, the rest he paid me in shale and gravel.
So the tax lady asked me what the value of the shale was, the value of the hay I traded and how many hours I spent working the tractor spreading gravel. I asked her which hay? She gave me a blank stare.
I said the hay I traded for fixing the motor was this year’s hay and it was worth more than the three year old hay I traded for gravel and shale. So her next question was how much did I pay for the hay.
I baled it myself, so it didn’t really cost me that much. How much did it cost you? I said well some fuel and net wrap and some dozer work. The tax lady’s nose wrinkled up and then she asked, “why did hay baling cost you dozer work?” Well, the guy that owns the hay meadow needed some trees pushed out for the new shed he’s building so I took the dozer and pushed the trees out and built him a small pad with the dozer. He let me bale that hay for free because I did that. The tax lady scribbled furiously, her nose wrinkling more as she scribbled.
So how much did you pay for the three year old hay? Well three years ago we traded riding some colts for some hay, it didn’t really cost us any money. I had kind of forgot about it, but it was close to where the guy lives that hauls the shale, so I offered it to him so he wouldn’t have to haul it very far. The tax lady scribbled some more, she took a deep breath and furrowed her eyebrows.
Finally she asked how much did you pay the bank for the tractor? Two thousand I said. How much did you tell the guy you wanted for the tractor? Fifteen thousand I said. So, in a round of about way you made a thirteen thousand dollar profit on the tractor? Well, yea, but I had an awfully lot of hours of riding colts, running the dozer and baling the hay in there, not to mention the doctor bill.
What doctor bill? The one where the colt bit a hunk out of me and I had to go get sewn up. Besides, I didn’t really get thirteen thousand dollars in profit, I just got a whole bunch of shale and a little gravel. I let him overcharge me quite a bit on the shale anyway, so that’s kind of like a loss isn’t it?
The tax lady took a deep breath, and I swear I could see clouds and lightning forming in her eyes. She said have your wife come talk to me because I’m confused and I need a break.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
Get Local News!
