Monday, April 15, 2013

Every day above ground is a good day

Tax Day falls on Tax Day again this year.

On some years it does not. More on this below.

When I was very young, the deadline each year for paying one’s individual income taxes to the federal government in the United States was March 15th. In 1955, for reasons unknown to me, the date was changed to April 15th, where it has remained ever since. An exception is made for tax filers who live outside the United States: they are granted an automatic two-month extension and do not have to file until June 15th.

Last year, however, the tax deadline was moved to Tuesday, April 17th, because April 15th fell on a Sunday and all of Washington, D.C., observed a holiday known as Emancipation Day on Monday, April 16th. I knew from my treasure-trove of trivial information that President Lincoln signed the famous Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, and I wondered why Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C., is April 16th. So I looked it up.

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia nine months before President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation.

So now you know.



As Pat (an Arkansas stamper) might say, tomorrow is also a day.

8 comments:

  1. Our Financial year ends on the last day of June so I guess that is our Tax Day. It's interesting how this is different all over the world.

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  2. Our Financial Year ends on the last day of June( the end of the 6th month and therefore halfway through the calendar year ) so I guess that is our Tax Day. It's interesting the way this happens on a different day in countries all over the world.

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  3. Another "new" thing I've learned from reading your blog. I was heretofore unaware of the 1862 emancipation. Interesting.

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  4. Thanks, Helsie and Pat, for your comments, both of which were, er, interesting.

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  5. I found this post very taxing.

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  6. "Every day above ground is a good day"

    Either you're slipping or I am because I had to read a lot of your recent posts to find even one sentence I could disagree with. Of course, you will no doubt disagree with my wording here, and suggest that I change it to "with which I could disagree."

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  7. Snowbrush, perhaps it has become my mission in life to avoid controversial subjects...Nah!

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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