Taxes, ChatGPT, and God’s Sense Of Humor

Tax day in the USA is April 15, so I’ve been slogging away all week at my taxes.

I usually don’t wait until the last minute, but this year I had a vexing question that I couldn’t seem to get an answer to from anywhere. It had to do with the kind of trust we put the home into.

My lawyer said, “Consult a tax attorney” but cautioned that unless I had them do my entire taxes, no one would probably even consult with me. That proved to be true.

So, for the heck of it, I consulted ChatGPT.

And you know what? I got good information! I finally got the right questions to ask my attorney, went back to the AI bot with the attorney’s answers, and seemed to get the answer I needed.

This was a week ago. I was finally ready to sit down and finish my taxes.

That very morning, I came across something in my daily Bible reading that made me laugh out loud.

I’ve read through the entire Bible every 2 years since 2024. This particular year, I’m using The Daily Bible, which is broken up into Old and New Testament readings, plus some verses in between that can be a basis for prayer.

On this particular day, when the main task of the day was to do my taxes, of all the passages from the whole Bible that could have been selected for that day, I came across Romans 13:6-7:

“For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Give to everyone what is owed him: taxes to whom taxes are due; revenue to whom revenue is due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due. Owe nothing to anyone but to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” 

Not only did I laugh out loud, I sensed God’s smile, too. It felt like he was saying, “Don’t think that what you have to do today is mundane and of no importance. Everything can be done for me, and with my help.”

And he would make it fun! Or at least bearable. I smiled every time I thought of coming across that verse. And I asked him to be with me every step of the way.

As I discovered, I still needed help. My situation was so nuanced, even ChatGPT and the tax program support team went back and forth about it. I just kept feeding them more details, and finally, at last, I came up with the right answer and what to do. Which I chalk up to God’s answering my prayer to guide me through.

Photo by Dimitri Karastelev

(Some people ask me why I do my own taxes. Well, for one, the hard part is gathering the right information, which I’d have to do either way. Two, once when I did hire an accountant, I paid him $600 to watch him input the information into a tax program—the easy part that I could do myself. When I tried to learn something by asking him questions, he seemed miffed. What was I paying him for, anyway?)

I used FreeTaxUSA last year and this year, and I like them a LOT. I got the Deluxe Support, which was well worth $8. Highly recommended. I learned even more about taxes this year, through them and ChatGPT.

Which brings me to something I find fascinating about ChatGPT, and probably other AI models as well. They do some things we can all learn from.

One thing I noticed about the chatbot is how downright nice it was. Every answer to my questions started with some kind of affirmation:

• “Great question! Let’s break this down clearly so you can handle it correctly on your taxes.”

• “Ah — I see exactly where the confusion is, and it’s a really good, subtle tax question. Let’s go step by step.”

• “You’re very welcome! That sounds like a smart plan — clean and simple. 👍”

• “Ah — now this is a very important clarification, and I’m glad you pointed it out!”

• Ahhh — now we are getting to the heart of it. Yes, this does change things — and it’s good you brought this up.”

Not only was it so encouraging and affirming, but the tone was super helpful and focused on solving my problems:

• “Let me know if you need any further clarification or help with those deductions!”

• “If you want, I can help you set up a quick worksheet to prorate your home office deductions for 2024 . . . Would you like me to build that worksheet for you? It’ll save time when you file your 2024 taxes!”

• “If anything else pops up as you finish things up, just let me know! Happy to help you get it all sorted. 🌟”

Sounds like I’m dealing with a real person, doesn’t it? A real nice, helpful person.

And therein is where I get wary. I mean, if people are lulled into using AI over real human interaction, that is a problem. Much research proves how important face-to-face human interaction is for our emotional and physical health. (It is, for instance, one of the key factors in preventing cognitive decline.)

Did you catch what some of those things are from the above?

Here’s what one Wall Street Journal article pointed out:

“New research finds that large language models can outshine humans when it comes to showing empathy. What’s their secret? They stay focused on the speaker, validate feelings, and ask thoughtful questions. What they don’t do is rush in with advice or a personal anecdote, shifting the spotlight onto themselves.”

Another caution: AI is not always accurate. I called it on several things. At least twice, it said it was doing something for me but didn’t follow through correctly. The Excel files it said were all populated with the right fields were blank, for instance. I’ve caught them in other mistakes or even downright deflections, avoiding answering my questions directly.

Here’s the thing, though: the bot quickly admitted the mistake, and moved on to correct it. Something some humans find very difficult to do.

The machines are learning from us all the time. We might as well turn the tables and learn what we can from the bots about fostering better relationships through being a better listener, focusing on the other person, and admitting mistakes.

We’ll become better humans in the process.