Reminders That a Tax Day Is Coming

Added: 10/01/2006
Although the founders of the United States once protested "taxation without representation," the U.S. Congress has found that a government needs money. Therefore, an earlier Congress agreed to the creation of a tax day, a day when every U.S. citizen must submit an income tax form, one that gives their income from the previous year. Those dreaded forms are difficult to forget.

During the hot summer months one seldom gets a reminder that Christmas is coming in December. Yet during late December and early January there are repeated reminders that a tax day is coming in April. Those reminders show up in media coverage of the births that take place on New Year's Eve. The mention of those births calls to mind the tax law concerning deductions for dependents.

Most people are aware of that law. It states that a parent whose child is born at the close of the year can claim that child as a deduction for the entire year. Hence the parents who have a child born in late December benefit from the fact that a tax day is coming. In April they will be able to claim deductions that exceed their actual expenses for the previous year.

Still thoughts of tax day do not enter a U.S citizen's conscience only in April and December. In fact throughout the entire year the citizens of the U.S. get occasional reminders that a tax day is coming.  Those reminders can take many different forms.

Sometimes high school students bring home information about possible scholarships. As parents study that information they see that an application for a scholarship requires some information from the parents.  The parents need to report their income and to submit a copy of the statement given to the IRS. Thus all of the students who choose to go after a scholarship provide their parents with yet another reminder that a tax day is coming.

At other times the U.S. Congress might pass a law that allowed U.S. citizens to increase the number of their deductions. It might, for example, be a law that would allow a deduction for the installation of an energy-saving device in the home. Were such a law to be passed, then the media would be sure to mention the added dollars that citizens could receive by using that deduction. The citizens would get yet another reminder that a tax day was coming.

Tragedy too has helped to deliver further reminders that a tax day is coming. For example, after the devastation suffered by the citizens of New Orleans as a result of the hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government decided to allow special tax exemptions to businessmen willing to bring money into the area.  The announcement of those exemptions, an effort to encourage more businesses to come to New Orleans, reminded U.S citizens yet again that a tax day was coming.

Of course the approach of tax day brings a great many reminders that U.S. citizens need to file their income tax forms. Those reminders focus on the need for citizens to complete and mail-in their income tax forms. Those forms must normally be post-marked by midnight on April 15th. If the 15th of April falls on a weekend or a holiday, then the tax forms must be post-marked by midnight of the next closest Monday.

The government tries to motivate every procrastinator. Still there are some who just don't get the message. Some procrastinators are so busy with their last-minute form-filling that they fail to heed the TV instructions. Some mail their forms from a near-by, corner mailbox, a mistake for which they then pay a price.

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