This year, April 17th is Tax Day! Yes, it’s actually April 15th as a rule, but due to Tax day falling on a Saturday, which also happens to be holiday in Washington D.C. (Emancipation Day), the rest of us got the benefit of a reprieve until today (because the Feds take off the next business day when the holiday falls on the weekend). Now hopefully you know this already – if not, get on those forms, quick!
Whether you like it or not, you’ve gotta do your “civic duty” and send in your taxes so the state and federal governments can spend it! If you want more information about taxes, we’d suggest that you check out the tax code! Except you probably can’t, because its over 70,000 pages. And once you’re done – you can “celebrate” Tax Day, by understanding the fact that it won’t happen for another 364 days.
- The IRS collects $950-billion in taxes each year. What would you do with $950 billion if you were our government?
- The average tax refund is $3000. That may sound exciting, but since tax refunds are granted only when you have overpaid on your taxes, it’s basically like giving an interest-free loan to the government.
- Want to be in the top 1%? You’ll have to earn $369,509 per year.
- Want to be in the top 10%? You’ll need $116,555.
- 275,000 people reported incomes over $1-million.
- 11,000 people reported incomes over $10-million.
- Some advice: itemize! The average standard deduction is $7,884. The average itemized deduction is $26,084.
- The cost of war has often driven the push for taxes. The first United States income tax was imposed in July 1861 to help pay for the Civil War; the rate was just 3% of income over $800. That tax was eventually repealed and replaced by a tiered income tax in 1862. The income tax system we use today was made law in 1913, just before the start of World War I.
- Regarded by some as the smartest man who ever lived, even Albert Einstein was no fan of figuring out his taxes, once remarking, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."