Tax Due Day

When I was born back in the Pleistocene Era (1953), March 15, my birthday, was Tax Due Day. I wonder--did my parents file early or were they doing labor AND rushing around with last minute forms the day I was born?

Sometime in the early 1960s the whole system had become so cumbersome, they pushed it forward to April 15, to give employers more time to crank out the W-2s, the IRS workers more time to process the paper, and "the peoples" presumably more time to fuss and fret over the increasingly complex tax code.

Tax Freedom Day (the day the average person stops paying all their various government taxes and starts earning for himself) is April 23 this year, a three-day improvement over 2007.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/

I remember reading a socio-historical analysis about a decade ago about the changing attitudes Americans have had about the income tax. The author's thesis was that back during the Depression and World War II, paying taxes was something of a patriotic duty, a freely undertaken obligation towards our fellow citizens, a tithe to be proud of, rather than an odious chore or a rebellious rant against government excesses. (Of course, the total percentage burden of combined taxes was significantly less than it is today). We also forget that the general world-view back in the 1930s was that socialist principles would eventually triumph over capitalist principles, and we would all march together toward a glorious future of redistributed wealth and classless equality. Right. That worked out really well, didn't it?

I can't complain. (Well, I can and do, but what good does it do?) Our stunning medical expenses this year, coupled with the fact that Bill only worked 4 months in 2008, has made our tax-burden surprising small. I'm just pleased as punch that the darn things are done, and that Bill made it home in time to sign the papers so I can send them off today. And now I don't have to think about it for another 8 months. I'm happy.

The sun is shining, my husband is asleep (still!) in his own home at last, and our son arrives tomorrow for a two-week visit!

And the taxes are DONE! All good things to celebrate!