Government Accounting

I, possibly like some of you, am working on my income taxes.

When I looked at the report which tells me how much Social Security I had received (Form SSA-1099 - Social Security Benefit Statement), I noticed that it was a bit difficult to understand at first glance.

Here's how it looks (numbers just used as an example):

Paid by check or direct deposit $7,000.00

Medicare Part B premiums $1,200.00

deducted from your benefits

Benefits for 2009 $8,200.00

The intended interpretation, I'm fairly certain, goes something like this:

"I got $7,000 Social Security last year!

And Oh, look!! I also got $1200 Medicare premiums!

The government gave me $8,200!"

Here's the way I would show it:

Benefits for 2009 $8,200.00

Medicare Part B premiums $1,200.00

deducted from your benefits

Paid by check or direct deposit $7,000.00

To this old head, this is a lot easier to understand.

But then again, maybe we're not supposed to understand it. I think it's called accounting "spin."

Politicians have a very, very, strange way of dealing with numbers, especially numbers which represent the dollars which we gave them or which are being spent.

Better get used to accounting spin; we're gonna see a lot more of it, me thinks.

Comment!