Last month I did something I’ve never done before:  filed my taxes just before midnight on April 14th.  I went to the James Farley Post Office in NYC, the largest main post office in NY where over 40,000 were expected to file before midnight.  I think they were all on line in front of me at 11:00 p.m.

I wasn’t proud of having put it off until there was no more time, but I was looking forward to it at least being something of an adventure, expecting the crowds and hoopla and reporters of years past. But – nothing! Where were the picketers protesting taxation? The marketers giving away free samples?  The strolling musicians? The guys in gorilla suits, and the reporters covering all this?  My first April 14th minutes-to-midnight filing, and it was a let down.  Just a lot of hot, aggravated people. And those of us waiting for them to wait on us.  But, with or without a party, I had no choice because I really WAS out of time - it was the absolute last chance for me to file my 2005 taxes if I wanted my refund.

Yeah, you read it right. 2005. I’ll admit it. I’m a big-time procrastinator. I’ve lost more money to late fees, missed rebates and unclaimed refunds than I care to add up. I’m still disgusted that I’m one of the few people who didn’t get a stimulus check when they were giving them out last year. (agh, why did I have to remember that?).  But at least I’m not dodging my taxes, so I have nothing to fear from POTUS Obama’s plan to rock the tax (haven) boat.  Or so I thought.

See, the administration wants to change a long-standing law that allows American companies to defer paying these taxes as long as the funds are kept overseas.  Many large companies avoid paying U.S. taxes on revenue from foreign subsidiaries by reinvesting the money overseas, by parking cash in various accounts or by plowing it back into foreign operations. But the POTUS thinks these little loopholes need plugging, and that the nearly $190 billion in recoverable taxes could be used right here in the U.S. of A.  (true that, true that.)

But then I learned that – just for example – without the deferral provision,  a company like, oh, let’s say Google - might have been required to pay an additional $1 billion last year on a tax bill that amounted to roughly $1.6 billion, according to a regulatory filing made by the company. Huh.

Now, I’m still tentatively on board with this. Mainly because too many companies get away with paying a hell of a lot less percentage-wise than I do. But as much as I hate to be on the side of the Party of No about anything, I confess I’m reserving full on-boardness, because I want to know more about how this might affect me personally.  (I know, I sound Republican like a mofo.) Like, would Google start charging for one of the (dozen) sweet — free — domain email set-ups, complete with Docs & Analytics that I currently enjoy? Because I would not dig that at all.  And that’s just the tip of the (free) tech iceberg that rocks my Inter-prising world.

Perhaps there could be a teeeny little tech loophole, where they could keep SOME of their money off-shore, as long as it served the greater good, you know. Like keeping stuff on the internets free so infinitesimally smaller ‘net businesses than Google can make their way.  Obama’s our first Tech President.  He should understand where I’m coming from.

Read more about all this on Google while it’s still free.