45 Fun Facts About Tax Day

Since 1955, US Tax Day has typically fallen on or just after which date?

April 15 has been the federal filing deadline since 1955; it slips to the next business day when the 15th falls on a weekend or a Washington, DC holiday.

When federal income tax began in 1913, what was the filing deadline?

March 1 was the deadline set by the 1913 Revenue Act, so the first Form 1040 returns were due on 1 March 1914.

Which amendment, ratified in 1913, let Congress tax incomes without apportioning by state population?

It overturned the Supreme Court's 1895 Pollock decision, which had struck down an earlier income tax.

Which 1895 Supreme Court case struck down the federal income tax?

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust (1895) held that taxing income from property (rents, dividends, interest) was a direct tax that had to be apportioned, killing the 1894 income tax.

The first US federal income tax was introduced in 1861 to fund what?

The Civil War: the Revenue Act of 1861, signed by Abraham Lincoln that August, created the first federal income tax to pay for the Union war effort.

What was the rate of the 1861 income tax on incomes above $800?

3%: the 1861 act levied a flat 3% on income over $800; the next year's act replaced it with 3% on income above $600 and 5% above $10,000.

The IRS traces its origin to the Office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue, created in which year?

The wartime income tax funded over a fifth of the Union's war costs before it lapsed a decade later.

Which two simplified versions of the main individual tax return were dropped for tax year 2018?

Forms 1040-A and 1040-EZ were retired for tax year 2018, when the IRS folded them into a redesigned Form 1040 backed by six new numbered schedules.

Limited electronic filing of US tax returns first became possible in which year?

1986: the IRS ran its first electronic-filing pilot that year, accepting about 25,000 returns from a handful of tax preparers in three cities before taking e-file nationwide by 1990.

Tax Day is pushed back when April 15 collides with which Washington, DC holiday?

Emancipation Day, the April 16 DC holiday marking the end of slavery in the District, counts as a legal holiday for the IRS, so a clash with April 15 moves the deadline for everyone.

Which New England holiday has occasionally given Maine and Massachusetts filers an extra day?

Patriots' Day, the third-Monday-in-April holiday in Massachusetts and Maine marking Lexington and Concord, has on several occasions given those states' filers one extra day.

In 2020 the federal filing deadline was pushed to which date because of the COVID-19 pandemic?

July 15, 2020: the Treasury pushed both the filing and payment deadlines back three months after the pandemic shut offices in March 2020.

Al Capone was finally jailed in 1931 for what crime?

Tax evasion: in October 1931 a federal jury convicted Capone on three counts of evading income tax and two of failing to file, crimes prosecutors could prove when his violence could not be.

How long was Al Capone's 1931 federal prison sentence?

Eleven years: Judge James Wilkerson sentenced Capone in October 1931 to 11 years and a $50,000 fine; he served in Atlanta and then Alcatraz from August 1934.

Actor Wesley Snipes was convicted in 2008 of what tax offence?

Willful failure to file returns: a Florida jury convicted Snipes in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts for 1999-2001 while acquitting him of felony fraud and conspiracy; he got three years.

Hotelier Leona Helmsley was reported to have said that only whom pay taxes?

'Only the little people pay taxes' was attributed to Helmsley by a former housekeeper at her 1989 tax-evasion trial; the 'Queen of Mean' served about 19 months.

Leona Helmsley's will originally left how much to her Maltese dog, Trouble?

$12 million: Helmsley's 2007 will left that sum in trust for her Maltese, Trouble, while cutting out two grandchildren; a judge later reduced the dog's share to $2 million.

Benjamin Franklin's 'nothing is certain except death and taxes' came in a 1789 letter about what?

The newly established Constitution: writing to French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in November 1789, Franklin said the new Constitution promised permanency, 'but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.'

The all-time-high US top marginal income tax rate of 94% applied during which years?

1944-1945: the wartime top rate of 94% applied to taxable income over $200,000 in those two years, and the top rate stayed above 90% through 1963.

As of 2023, how many US states levied no tax on wage and salary income?

Nine: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming taxed no wages in 2023; New Hampshire taxed only interest and dividends.

Who invented 'Tax Freedom Day' in 1948?

Dallas Hostetler, a Florida businessman, coined and trademarked 'Tax Freedom Day' in 1948 and transferred it to the Tax Foundation when he retired in 1971.

The Boston Tea Party of December 1773 destroyed roughly how many chests of tea?

342 chests: on 16 December 1773 the Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Mohawks, dumped about 92,000 pounds of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.

Britain's Stamp Act of 1765 taxed which colonial goods?

Printed paper and playing cards: the 1765 Stamp Act required stamped paper for newspapers, legal documents and pamphlets, and even taxed playing cards and dice; it was repealed in March 1766.

England's window tax, blamed for bricked-up windows, was introduced in 1696 and repealed in which year?

1851: England's window tax, introduced under William III in 1696, was finally repealed in 1851 after campaigners branded it a tax on light and air.

Which Russian ruler introduced a beard tax in 1698 to westernise his subjects?

Peter the Great imposed the beard tax in 1698 after his Grand Embassy to western Europe; payers carried a copper 'beard token', and Catherine the Great abolished the tax in 1772.

Roughly how far did Gandhi walk to Dandi on the 1930 Salt March?

About 240 miles (390 km): Gandhi and 78 volunteers walked from Sabarmati Ashram to the coast at Dandi over 24 days, making salt on 6 April 1930 in defiance of the British salt tax.

Legend says Lady Godiva rode naked through which English city to win a tax cut for its people?

Coventry: in the legend, first written down in the 13th century, Godiva rode through Coventry's market so her husband Leofric would lift his oppressive tolls; 'Peeping Tom' was added centuries later.

Which king's 196 BC decree, granting temples tax breaks, is recorded on the Rosetta Stone?

Ptolemy V: the Rosetta Stone carries a priestly decree of 196 BC honouring the boy king and recording his tax remissions for the temples, in hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek.

Britain's hat tax of 1784-1811 reserved the death penalty for what?

Forging hat-tax stamps: the 1784 duty was paid via a stamp stuck inside the hat lining, and counterfeiting one was a capital offence; retailers had to display 'Dealer in Hats by Retail'.

Which country introduced, then abolished within about a year, a 'fat tax' on saturated fat in 2011-12?

Denmark introduced the world's first saturated-fat tax in October 2011 and scrapped it in January 2013, citing higher prices, cross-border shopping in Germany and no change in eating habits.

The modern 'jock tax' took off in 1991 when California taxed which team's players after the NBA Finals?

The Chicago Bulls: after they beat the Lakers in the 1991 Finals, California taxed the visiting players' earnings, and Illinois hit back with its own 'Michael Jordan's Revenge' tax.

As of 2019, how many US states had no state sales tax at all?

Five: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon levy no statewide sales tax, though Alaska allows local ones.

Which country in 2004 became one of the first to scrap sales tax on tampons and pads?

Kenya scrapped VAT on sanitary pads in 2004, widely cited as the first country to do so, and later dropped import duties on them; Canada followed in 2015 and India in 2018.

Tax Day is close to April 5, the end of the British tax year, which derives from which old quarter day?

Lady Day was March 25 on the old Julian calendar, when rents fell due and servants were hired.

Which IRS commissioner was forced out in 1971 after resisting Nixon's attempts to politicise the agency?

Randolph Thrower, commissioner from 1969, objected to White House plans to use the IRS against political opponents and was forced out in January 1971.

Roughly what share of the US government's operating funds did the IRS collect in FY2023?

About 96%: the IRS Data Book for fiscal 2023 reports that the agency collected roughly 96% of the federal government's gross receipts, funding nearly every operation of government.

In 2023 winter disasters led the IRS to extend most of California's filing deadline to which date?

October 16, 2023: after January's storms the IRS gave most California counties until 16 October to file and pay, then in October extended most of them again to 16 November.

What were the firing offences for IRS staff in the 1998 Restructuring Act nicknamed?

The '10 deadly sins': section 1203 of the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act listed ten acts, such as falsifying records or harassing taxpayers, that require an employee's dismissal.

On the first page of Form 1040, taxpayers can tick a box sending $3 to what?

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund: the $3 check-off, raised from $1 in 1993, directs Treasury money to public financing of campaigns without changing what the filer owes.

What was the federal filing deadline from 1918 until it moved to April 15 in 1955?

The date now shifts only when April 15 hits a weekend or a holiday such as DC's Emancipation Day.

In 2021, COVID relief law changes pushed the federal filing deadline from April 15 to which date?

May 17, 2021: the IRS postponed the deadline by about a month after the American Rescue Plan changed 2020 tax rules mid-season, including exempting $10,200 of unemployment benefits.

Why did New England filers once get an extra day when Patriots' Day fell on Tax Day?

Unionised staff at the Andover processing centre had the day off; the extension was dropped once filings were routed to Hartford, Charlotte and Kansas City.

Roughly how much did the IRS collect in fiscal year 2023?

About $4.7 trillion: the IRS reported gross collections of nearly $4.7 trillion in fiscal 2023, while processing more than 271 million returns and other forms.

For how long is the Commissioner of Internal Revenue appointed by the president?

Five years: the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act gave the commissioner a fixed five-year term, subject to Senate confirmation; the commissioner and chief counsel are the agency's only presidential appointees.

Which IRS commissioner locked Nixon's enemies list in his safe and later gave it to Congress?

Johnnie Mac Walters, commissioner 1971-73, was handed the White House enemies list by John Dean in September 1972, refused to act on it, locked it in his safe and gave it to Congress in 1973.