A Call For Help

Hello, my favorite patrons!

Unfortunately, I come to you today in dire need of assistance and after exhausting all the resources I can on my side, my only option is to reach out to my community for help.

For anyone who doesn't know, at the end of 2022 I was laid off from my job at the cyber security company I was working at. Since then, after being unable to find a new job in spite of my best efforts, I opened my Patreon it became my only source of income. Though it isn't a lot of money, it brings me so much joy and fulfillment to write for a living and it keeps a roof over my head. During 2023 I still had some roll-over income from my severance and unemployment, and because of that 2024 was my first full year doing Patreon for my full-time income and I was in no way prepared for how devastating the taxes would be. When I filed my taxes last year, I actually had a small refund due to the amounts withheld from the unemployment and severance. This year, however, after doing my taxes and taking every single deduction I could possibly justify, I'm left owing $1500 for my federal taxes. Right now, that is more than I make in a month and I have $22 left in my savings and I'm only getting $369 back from the state. While people have pointed out to me that I could do a payment plan, I'm already just barely scraping by; I finished February with $25 left in my account. And, if I'm going to try to prevent this happening next year, I also need to be setting aside money to pay next year's taxes as well. I can't afford another payment plan or another debt, I just can't. The main reason for this is the "self-employment tax" which was an extra $2000 they just slapped on to the end of my taxes which apparently normal deductions do not touch at all, only "business expenses" do.

I am already pretty badly in debt. As you can imagine, over a year and a half making under the (already excessively low) federal poverty line has done quite a number on me and slowly things have built up. I tried to get a loan consolidation with my bank to reduce my credit card and existing loan payments and if I would have been able to do that and take out a little extra for the taxes if I received reasonable enough terms I could have made it work, but unfortunately I was rejected. In spite of my stellar payment history and credit score, I just don't make enough for them. I don't have anything of value left to sell that I can afford to part with either. I have done everything I can to make things work on my own and even with debts stacking up slowly I've at least been confident that I can manage things by myself. Between my Patreon, food stamps, and Medicaid I've been doing my best with both my poor physical and mental health. But you know how they say over half the families in America are one $1000 bill away from bankruptcy? I'm definitely experiencing that right now. So with pretty much no options left to me that I can find, I have to reach out for help. I didn't want to ask publicly for help, especially to the kind and generous people who are already giving me the money that pays my rent. Also, because of the way I was raised and the mindset in America I feel like I'm "begging for handouts", but I've been backed into such a corner I just have no choice.

Please, if there is anything that you can spare to assist, I would truly be eternally grateful if you'd consider donating. Obviously I have until April 15th (my birthday, yay :/ ) to raise the amount I need so that will be the deadline. I know it's a short time to try to raise that much money but I spent a lot of time trying hard to solve this on my own and failing. Of course if somehow I were to go over that needed amount by then, any additional funds will go towards preparations for next year's taxes. I've also posted on the following social media sites to put the call for help out, if you guys would be so kind as to share, reblog, repost, etc those posts I would be so grateful. Even if you can't donate, at least spreading the word would be a huge help.

My NSFW Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/allways-underfoot/778578240439746561/a-call-for-help 

My (mostly) SFW Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/hyperazraphael/778579486045257728/a-call-for-help

My Twitter: https://x.com/HiddenDarkHM/status/1902853520644247672

My Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fallenazraphael.bsky.social/post/3lktrriyxx226

Here is my Paypal link for anyone who is interested in helping: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/HyperMushrambo Please make sure if prompted that you select that you are sending money to a friend and not paying for goods or services. The latter is counted as taxable income and Paypal will potentially report it as such, which would cause severe trouble for me.

Thank you for reading,

Azraphael Zaenir