Acorns don&8217;t drop far from the tree. That&8217;s a nice, countrified way of saying that children often grow up to be much like their parents.

I am living proof.

From an early age, I learned how to do things at my father&8217;s knee. Spend some time with my mother and she may conjure up yellowing photographs of yours truly in diapers clutching a screwdriver in my tiny hand. I believe one snapshot even shows me sitting near the edge of the engine compartment of my father&8217;s truck.

Dad has always been one of those guys who loved to tinker and do things on his own.

Repairman? Don&8217;t even think about it. If a part cannot be easily replaced, chances are it can be mended.

Between duct tape, wire, black electrical tape and Super Glue, most anything can be salvaged, at least that&8217;s Dad&8217;s philosophy.

I&8217;ve always been pretty much in step with him, too. I was raised working on cars and other mechanical things. And I&8217;ve always found the work generally relaxing.

Mechanical things make sense.

But in addition to oil changes and spark plugs, Dad was always insistent on doing his own income tax returns.

Apparently, that, too, is one of those acorn-borne contagions that I&8217;ve caught.

For years I&8217;ve managed to handle doing my own taxes.

With great pride each year, I pull out a calculator, scramble around to find a pencil &8212; erasers are a must for the do-it-yourselfer &8212; and get down to business.

Early on it was fairly easy. I&8217;m single and I have no children or other dependents. That equates to probably three minutes for your average accountant &8212; and that&8217;s including triple-checking the math.

In fact, years ago, when I was straight out of college, the standard IRS form 1040 was overkill. They had a dummied down version called the 1040-EZ, which fit me like a glove for the first year or two.

At a certain point, the 1040-EZ form&8217;s simplicity had me temporarily second-guessing my career choice. Perhaps that B-minus grade in Accounting 101 was a fluke. Maybe I was really some kind of genius accountant whose superior intellect was just not challenged enough by Accounting 101.

The 1040-EZ form might have been exactly what was separating me from a lucrative job in accounting.

OK, don&8217;t laugh. I&8217;m only half-joking.

As the years have passed, the annual tax ritual has become a little more complicated as I&8217;ve purchased a house and begun to itemize deductions.

No problem. Mr. 1040-EZ has this thing licked. The 1040 form &8212; required for itemized deductions &8212; is a piece of cake.

A year or so ago, a business acquaintance, who worked as an investment broker, and I struck up a conversation and I decided to invest some savings with his firm.

It seemed simple enough at the time. I&8217;d buy some stocks. Some risk, sure, but it wasn&8217;t that much money and hey, it might be fun to watch some stocks now and then.

Last week, shortly after I dusted off my calculator and rolled up my sleeves, I discovered the three dirtiest words in the American lexicon: Capital Gains Tax.

My frustration wasn&8217;t with having to pay the tax, that&8217;s another column for another day; it&8217;s the insanity of trying to figure out exactly how much I had to pay.

An hour or two later, I emerged from what seemed like an endless journey of, &8220;Add lines 8 and 9&8221; &8220;Subtract line 4 from line 1&8221; and so on and so forth.

Although it takes a good deal of pride to admit it, it was maddening for a minute or two and I wondered to myself, &8220;Just how much would one of the tax professionals charge to clean up this mess?&8221;

In the end, I figured it all out &8212; this year. Next year I may not be so lucky.

And, now that the forms are finished &8212; in ink &8212; and the envelope is sealed and ready to be mailed, I can&8217;t help but laugh at myself a bit. I&8217;m a chip off the old block, but that Block just doesn&8217;t begin with H&R.;

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

.