For most families, Thanksgiving means gathering around a perfectly roasted turkey, sharing gratitude, and trying to avoid discussing politics or crypto. But in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, things are a little more “improvised.” Instead of turkey and stuffing, the Peanuts gang ends up with toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks, and a side of existential confusion. And honestly? That makes it a pretty realistic holiday picture. Because whether you’re cooking a turkey or prepping a tax plan, life serves up whatever’s in the pantry. Charlie Brown’s holiday feast is basically a metaphor for the final weeks of tax-planning season. It’s messy, it’s chaotic, and half the participants assume someone else is doing the hard work. If that isn’t December tax planning, I don’t know what is.
taxes
Rounding Up and Cashing Out
Every so often, Uncle Sam announces something that makes taxpayers stop, blink, and ask, “Wait… we’re still doing that?” Now that conversation has landed squarely on the humble penny. Yes, the little copper-colored coin that costs more to make than it’s worth, that falls between couch cushions like it’s trying to escape the junk drawer, and that we all secretly wonder what to do with when we get it back as change. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent personally minted the last five of their kind. And many Americans say this with love: it’s about time. You know inflation is bad when even money is worth less than the metal it’s made from.
California Dreamin’
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been playing “David versus Goliath” with President Donald Trump, especially as Trump has ordered troops into Los Angeles to quell protests against his immigration raids. Now Newsom has floated a wild idea: what if California stopped sending money to the IRS?
Yes, you read that right. The head of the fifth-largest economy in the world — home of tech bros, movie stars, and $12 oat milk lattes — is making noises about withholding federal tax revenue.
May the Force Be with You
Hard to believe it is, but taxes lie at the heart of the Star Wars universe. In Episode One: The Phantom Menace, in the very first paragraph of the opening crawl, we learned that taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems was in dispute. The Galactic Senate had imposed taxes to fight interplanetary pirates, and in response, the Trade Foundation had blockaded shipping to Naboo to pressure the Senate into repealing those taxes. The Supreme Chancellor dispatched two Jedi Knights to resolve the dispute… and the adventure began!
Bucket of Tax
Summer is coming soon, and sports fans across America have a lot to look forward to. Basketball’s 13-month-long season is (finally) starting to heat up. (Do regular-season games even matter? Next you’ll tell me there’s a summer league, too.) Hockey playoffs are coming to a close. Baseball is in full swing, and NFLers are about to report to training camps. Stop at any bar or water cooler in the land, and you’ll hear talk of wins, losses, and plays that you just have to see.
Friends, Romans, Taxpayers
The world’s first tax, imposed 3,000 years BC, was called the “heqat,” and it required farmers to pay 20% of their harvest to the pharaoh. Given what we know about human nature, we can assume the first efforts to avoid the heqat began around 2,999 BC. Thus began a fiscal arms race that persists until today.