It’s tax time, so I’m spending my evenings perusing the IRS web site and eliciting advice from expatriate forums concerning how to deal with filing from a foreign country.  It should be simple, really, but the US government’s 54 page leaflet on foreign earned income is not easy reading. 

My wife is amused by all this.  They don’t have anything like our annual tax-hassle here; taxes are taken out of their paychecks (the correct amount, it is assumed) and that’s that.  They get a sort of W-2 at the end of each fiscal year telling them how much they earned and how much they paid in, but there are no forms to file, and no refunds.

That does not mean there is less bureaucracy, however.  As if to prove this, a particularly daft bit of legislation is currently under debate, and I am keeping an amused eye on the rising groundswell of protest over it. 

Apparently, in their zeal to reap as much revenue as possible, someone decided it would be a good idea to beef up the already stringent entertainment licensing laws. The aim was to broaden the net so more people would have to pay for entertainment licenses, but what they ended up doing was outlawing everything, including church services. 

The new law states, in effect, that any entertainment, for any purpose, at any time, in any place, under any circumstances, is illegal without benefit of a license.  And yes, this does include your private home. 

If you have a couple of friends over for a dinner party and you trot your nine-year old daughter out to play ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ on her cornet for them, you have broken the law, and little Susie will have to go to jail.  Likewise, if a drunken pub patron beings spontaneously singing ballads, the landlord will have to jump over the bar and shut him up before someone in authority hears him. 

Having enjoyed music at my local pub in the States, and having heard nothing but music in Ireland, I was puzzled and disappointed to find the pubs here devoid of entertainment.  The only place to hear live folk music is at a ‘folk club’ where dues are involved, ostensibly to pay for the license.  Being folk fans, my wife and I had to give it a try. 

The club met in a large hall where we sat in semi-circular rows of chairs facing a microphone, reminiscent of those ‘shake-n-bake’ type churches I used to belong to in another life.  One by one, the members got up, sang a song or recited a poem, received polite applause and sat down again.  I was reminded of a big family get together, where all the children are expected to do a ‘party piece.’ 

The people were all very nice, but extremely earnest.  There were a lot of beards and wire-rimmed spectacles. 

The only music I get to hear these days, aside from the radio (and, yes, we had to get a license for that, as well) is at my bagpipe band practice.  In light of this legislation, it makes me wonder how we are allowed to gather weekly at the hall, play bagpipes together for two hours and not need a license.

Although, maybe that’s not considered ‘entertainment.’

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