I may never have mentioned this before, but I’m one of the smartest people on the planet. Having said that, a guy from H&R Block still had to come to one of our meetings recently to explain how to do our taxes.

I’m struttin’ around wearin’ a Mensa lifetime pledge pin, and we still can’t figure out the tax code.

I’ve done the story at each of my career stops about whichever US Postal Service location will stay open late for last-minute filers.

This morning, I asked the newsroom if anyone still did that. I vaguely recalled my first couple years here, USPS employees would stand out in the frontage road, and people would fling their taxes at them.

But now, everyone files online, so I can’t imagine anyone sitting at home today, sitting in a dimly lit room with cigarette smoke in the air while wearing a green visor and sweating while he crunches the numbers.

Which brings us to the Mensa meeting. The guy from H&R Block was having a blast. He warned us all to expect smaller refunds because our employers probably put us in a smaller tax bracket because of the changes in the tax code.

“Take your time filing this year,” he suggested. “Then tell the government you need an extension because you couldn’t come to an agreement on how much to spend painting a wall of your house, so the house shut down and you couldn’t pay your bills on time.”

He also said another scam people use is to donate a check to their church but then ask for cash back. That way, they’d have a paper trail to claim a charitable donation, even though they kept most of the money.

Looking back now, that might have been a more helpful scam if I posted it before 4 o’clock on tax day. Advantage: Green Visor-clad gentleman in the smoke filled room panicking about whether he’ll finish in time.

We asked a few questions about our taxes. I asked whether it was worth it to rollover old 401(k)s into one plan or just leave them scattered. He gave a very concise answer that I do not recall.

But then, because we’re a group of people who are difficult to work with, we started hammering him with questions about the politics of the tax system.

“Remember Rick Perry with that index card?!” someone hollered.

He was helpful there, too.

“The lobbyists keep it complicated,” he said. He said companies like H&R Block keep a bunch of lobbyists working so you still have to hire someone to help you with your taxes.

A tax system that even card-carrying geniuses can’t figure out keeps him [and the green visor industry] in business.