Bought car insurance the other day for the first time in 23 years. One little fee that was tacked on is the spousal exclusion fee. Because I’m married, I get to pay $25 to exclude my spouse from my car insurance. Patrick does not have a driving license, nor does he intend to drive, so I have to pay the spousal exclusion fee. I called bullshit to the agent, and she said: “Yes, it’s bullshit, however, it’s the law.”

Tax avoidance schemes by major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft drew scrutiny from Congress last year, and Apple CEO Tim Cook was brought in front of a Senate panel to explain his company’s entirely legal scheme to park profits in low-tax international jurisdictions like Ireland and avoid billions of dollars in U.S. tax liability. Many of the largest companies in the country pay a zero percent tax rate, and the typical effective tax rate for a large, profitable U.S. company is actually lower than that paid by middle-class families.