taxes and asymmetry

Last year and the year before and the year before that I brought my tax stuff to a very popular tax filing company that has a green logo and promises that they will get you the maximum amount of money back possible. It's a huge stress and hassle every year and I always seem to get super condescending twenty year old men in ill-fitting suits. They charge about a hundred bucks to do one person's personal taxes, and generally I'd get like a hundred and seventy back every year which seemed low, but I thought 'hey, they know what they're doing'. 

This year I filed my own taxes online. Royal Bank of Canada had a promotion on where if you file online they'll pay the fees, so it's free. I guess they're just really pushing for people to do their own taxes over the internet, you know, to save manpower and trees.

So it was free for me to do, took about half an hour because mine are the simplest taxes known to mankind basically, and I got over $800 back. Um. WHAT? And now I am just wondering how much money I've missed out on over the years. 

This is what I did with my tax return:

1. bought the cat a new fancy litter box

2. bought laundry soap and groceries

3. paid my credit cards down so I'm not over limit on both of them anymore

4. bought the dog a new non-stinky bed

5. bought a new pair of shoes (that I desperately needed)

6. bought a new bathing suit (treat yo self)

7. took Ryan out for lunch

8. bought contact lenses

And I'm using the rest on bills, a summer gym membership and a haircut. So basically I'm the most boring human on earth. But the point is...if you think your tax return is low, don't keep going back to the same place to have them done for your entire life!