It’s that time again. A brand new year has arrived, bringing with it a new tax filing season.
And it’s going to be — how shall we characterize it? — a fun one. Yeah, let’s keep the ol’ blog family friendly and go with fun.
The second Donald Trump administration started with Elon Musk’s quasi-official Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, whacking wildly at several government operations, including the Internal Revenue Service.
Then Congress cut funding for what was left of Uncle Sam’s tax collecting agency.
Finally, Capitol Hill decided the embattled IRS needed to deal with a massive new tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, and its provisions that were retroactive to the start of the 2025 tax year.
So, filing season 2026 is going to be fun! Keep saying it. Maybe we all can manifest it into happening.
Just in case that doesn’t happen, Don’t Mess With Taxes will be around to provide tax tips and news guidance and, in some (many) instances a chance to rant.
Counting continues: The ol’ blog also will be tracking what is the lifeblood of taxes. Numbers.
Specifically, the By the Numbers feature is back, after a break as I moved the blog from its now defunct original host to a new one.
And yes, I’m still doing transition and cleanup and I thank you for your patience during this process. That’s why the 2026 collection of By the Numbers is so late in appearing.
So, what counts? Taxes are, of course, all about the digits. As far as those that make it into BtN (as I refer to it), potential figures range from tax rate percentages to dollar amounts to titles of tax legislation to raw numbers and more. Much, much more.
If it can be associated (per my sometimes skewed judgement) with taxes, federal or state, it counts!
And yes, I am the final judge and arbiter. So if you thing the math here on this page might not seem to add up, no worries. The BtN collection isn’t something the IRS is going to audit!
They all have some sort of tax connection, although sometimes it’s tangential and/or is based on what some say (OK, what the hubby says) is my penchant for absurdist humor.
Weekend tallies: In keeping with the counting tradition, the By the Numbers honorees will be added to this page’s running roster after they are highlighted in a post.
That usually will be on Sundays. Sometimes, though, a number gets early recognition, showing up on Saturday or even at the end of the traditional work week. And if some breaking tax news forces its way onto the ol’ blog on Sunday, then the number will appear the next week.
But whenever they show up, they are tallied.
So, here we go, albeit a tad belatedly, into the 16th year of the ol’ blog’s numerical tradition. Thanks for keeping count with me.
- $4,500 and $9,000: IRS bumps up HSA contribution limits for 2027
- $1.776 billion: GOP joins backlash against Trump anti-weaponization ‘slush’ fund (May 23, 2026)
- $6.3 billion: Federal workers & retirees owed $6.3B in delinquent FY21-24 taxes (May 17, 2026)
- $82,000: Salaries are for suckers, or why the U.S. tax system should make you furious (April 19, 2026)
- $16.2 million and $61.2 million: IRS Direct File’s cost was $16 million, not the estimated $61 million, says tax agency watchdog (March 28, 2026)
- April 30 and June 27: IRS expands TAC weekday hours through April 30, and on select Saturdays through June 27 (March 8, 2026)
- 5: With some states slow in issuing tax refunds, it could be time to adjust your withholding (March 1, 2026)
Need more numbers? You can recount the featured figures from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
