“Hurray! I can’t wait to pay my taxes!” Said no one ever. Take a break from number crunching and learn four fun facts about Tax Day. (Yes, we said “fun” and “taxes” in the same sentence.)
As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote,“In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
Way to bring down the room, Ben.
As we count the days until April… no, wait… (checks notes) … MAY 17th, let’s liven things up a bit with some fun facts about Tax Day.
- How did the U.S. government finally catch Al Capone? Because he didn’t pay his income tax! The notorious Chicago mobster had his dirty hands in everything from gambling to bootlegging to narcotics. All of these ventures created a hefty income. But, unsurprisingly, the gangster known as “Scarface” didn’t give Uncle Sam a cut of the profits. In October of 1931, the crafty Capone was finally convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion.
- Ever heard of “The Jock Tax?” If you’re a professional athlete, you certainly have. If a pro athlete’s home state doesn’t have an income tax, that player won’t be taxed for his or her home games. They will, however, get taxed for income earned on games played in states where income tax is collected.
- The IRS reported 73,554 full-time employees on its payroll in 2019. In contrast, the FBI has about 35,000 employees and the Coast Guard tallies around 40,830.
- The Declaration of Independence – the finely-crafted document that birthed a nation – is 1,337 words in length. If you added all the words in the Holy Bible and the Gettysburg address to the Declaration of Independence, the sum would teeter around 775,000 words. In comparison, the current United States tax code has nearly seven million words.
Okay. That’s enough. Back to your calculator. By the way, if you need some guaranteed greenbacks, come by and see us at the greenhouse. We have what you need for many happy returns.
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