Bad News/Good News

I filed my income tax returns this weekend.  The bad news is that I owe the state some money.  The good news is that the federal government will return some money to me.  The better news is that it's a lot of money.

Think of a very small amount of money to pay -- say, a dollar.  Now think of getting back 300 times that amount.  Now think that my small amount is a power of ten more than that, and you'll be pretty close.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?  It's a good thing I'm putting the refund into my savings account, so I won't spend it if the IRS says I typed a number wrong and actually owe them that amount.