Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
In case you need a reminder: It’s Tax Day. You have until midnight local time to file your federal tax return without paying penalties.
Due to a withholding snafu that is too annoying and technical to go into here, we ended up owing a lot of money to the federal government in our tax filing this year.
The IRS started accepting returns on Jan. 27. We got our taxes done (yes, we use a CPA; I’m terrible at math and with two people filing jointly, things get complicated fast) around early February. While we did owe the feds, we got money back from the state – albeit not enough to cover the check I reluctantly wrote to the Treasury Department.
Apparently, Americans self-sort into three distinct groups when tax season rolls around: The early filers who need a quick cash fix, mid-season filers who are methodical and take their time about it, and last-minute procrastinators.
There are really five groups, by my count. The other two are late filers and people who don’t file at all – an estimated 10 million people, including some 125,000 high-income individuals who haven’t filed a return since 2017, according to the IRS.
Tax Day was first introduced when the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1913, granting Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes without having to apportion these gleanings to the states, which have their own taxing power.
The original date for Tax Day was March 1. Five years later, in 1918, it was changed to March 15, and then pushed back again to its current date of April 15 in 1995, where it has remained ever since, unless it coincides with a weekend or a holiday.
For the record, that includes Emancipation Day, which is observed by some, but not all, states, and Washington, D.C. Under the federal tax code, holidays in D.C. have a national impact – just one of the ways that the District, while not officially a state, punches well above its weight.
Interestingly, if Tax Day falls on Patriots’ Day, a civic holiday in the states of Maine and Massachusetts, the federal tax deadline sometimes – but not always – is extended by a day for residents of those states, as well as Maryland, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, and D.C. because the IRS processing center for those locations is located in Andover, MA, where unionized employees got Patriots’ Day off from work.
Tax Day might also be delayed by natural disasters or a public health emergency – like, for example, the COVID crisis. In 2020, for example, the filing deadline was delayed until July 15 due to the pandemic and then moved again the following year from April 15 to May 17.
This year, the IRS has extended the federal filing deadline either totally or partially in nine states to May 1 due to natural disasters that occurred either this year or last.
The following states, all of which were impacted by FEMA disaster declarations, have statewide federal tax filing delays: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In four other states – Alaska, Tennessee, Virginia and Mexico – only some residents in specific areas that were impacted by storms, flooding, or other natural disasters get to file their taxes late.
As I was writing my outsized check to the IRS, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is there anyone even working there anymore to receive, process, and cash this?” Apparently, I’m not the only one who has had this thought, given the news about the thousands of layoffs that have occurred – compliments of Elon Musk’s DOGE – across the federal government, including at the IRS.
This couldn’t really come at a more inopportune time for an agency that has long been trying to close a tax gap (the amount of money owed in taxes that goes uncollected annually) that’s estimated to be somewhere between $600 billion to $1 trillion per year.
It turns out that about 1 million fewer Americans had filed their federal taxes as of March 21, and more have requested extensions, compared with the same period last year, according to news reports. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So, whether and when my check gets cashed appears to be anyone’s guess. I would rather be in that position, quite frankly, than waiting on a refund that never comes.
Another warm day is on tap, with temperatures again reaching into the 60s. Skies will be cloudy, however, with occasional rain showers, and there might be some semi-strong wind gusts about, so be on the lookout.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration acted quickly to punish Harvard University after it refused to comply with a list of demands from the federal government that the school said were unlawful.
After Harvard became the first university to refuse to comply with the administration’s requirements, federal officials said they would freeze $2.2 billion in multiyear grants to the university, along with a $60 million contract.
A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from ending a Biden-era program that allowed parole and the right to work for over half a million immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Judge Indira Talwani, of the Federal District Court in Boston, said the program’s termination put thousands of immigrants at imminent risk of deportation hearings once their legal status expires in less than two weeks.
In an Oval Office meeting with Trump yesterday, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said that he would not return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported from the United States and sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison.
The Trump administration canceled a $3.1 billion grant program for climate friendly crops, the Agriculture Department announced.
A long sliver of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border that Trump is turning over to the Department of Defense would be controlled by the Army as part of a base, which could allow troops to detain any trespassers, including migrants.
The U.S. Commerce Department said most tomatoes imported from Mexico to the United States will face duties of 20.91% from July 14 as it withdraws from an agreement it said had failed to protect domestic tomato growers.
The new fee will be implemented on July 14, near the start of peak tomato season, and when the Department of Commerce intends to terminate a 2019 trade agreement with Mexico on the red fruit.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) chief information officer said he is leaving the agency later this month, announcing his departure shortly before the April 15 tax-filing deadline, multiple outlets reported last night.
Rajiv Uppal, who has served in the role since early 2024, announced in an email to staff that he will depart the tax-collecting agency on April 28.
The White House is planning to ask Congress to claw back more than $1 billion slated for public broadcasting in the United States, according to two people briefed on the plan, a move that could ultimately eliminate almost all federal support for NPR and PBS.
A White House official confirmed that the package to cut public broadcasting will be sent to Congress when lawmakers return from Easter recess on April 28. The package requests to eliminate $9.3 billion in spending, the official said.
The New York Post, which first reported on the planned request, noted the request covered roughly $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and more than $8 billion for USAID and other State Department efforts.
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, took the witness stand yesterday to defend his social media empire in a landmark antitrust trial that could dismantle a company that has transformed how the world connects online.
It was the first of what is expected to be two days of testimony for Zuckerberg, who will seek to explain two of his company’s most important acquisitions, Instagram and WhatsApp.
These are the highest stakes Zuckerberg has faced so far, because what’s on trial is fundamental: The composition of his sprawling, $1.35 trillion market cap business.
A Columbia University student and vocal pro-Palestinian advocate was arrested by immigration authorities when he went to sit for a naturalization interview yesterday, according to his attorneys.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a permanent United States resident and green card holder who emigrated from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration authorities in Vermont, where his permanent residence is located, one of his attorneys said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, citing a surge of dismissals in criminal cases involving domestic violence, continued her push for the Legislature to amend the pretrial discovery rules that were overhauled in 2019 to give defendants better access to the evidence against them.
Hochul and the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) have released a series of reports underscoring the urgent need for changes to New York’s discovery laws to better protect crime victims.
Hochul is doubling down on her laissez-faire attitude about the quarter-trillion-dollar state spending plan, telling reporters today the average Joe really doesn’t care that the state budget is already two weeks late.
Hochul’s plan to close a costly loophole in state law that requires businesses to pay manual laborers weekly has been met with some stiff resistance — while budget talks remain at an impasse.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat may be suspended from or even kicked out of the Manhattan Democratic Party today after an ethics probe found he and three cronies engaged in “misconduct” in a 2023 vote for chairman, the second highest position within the party.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrived in the Dominican Republic yesterday to pay his respects to the 226 people who died last week when the roof of a legendary nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo.
Adams traveled with New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, who was born and raised in the Dominican, along with Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, the first Dominican American to hold the role.
Adams, who traveled to the site of the destroyed Jet Set nightclub yesterday morning, got choked up in front of news cameras while paying his respects to the victims of the tragedy.
The city Department of Homeless Services has inked a new $250,000 contract with booking agent Alpha International Travel Corp., to relocate some of the nearly 100,000 homeless shelter residents and migrants across the US.
Two powerful unions whose leadership called on former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations are now endorsing his bid for mayor, giving a boost to his growing lead over competitors in the Democratic primary.
Cuomo’s bid for New York City mayor was endorsed by two of the city’s largest unions, Local 32BJ and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, reflecting his growing dominance as the campaign accelerates.
Cuomo’s new 29-page housing plan included a garbled section with incomplete sentences and a link to a citation retrieved by ChatGPT.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi confirmed that the AI program was used for citation purposes only, and not for writing the plan itself. “We wrote the paper, and yes, we used Chat GPT to get footnotes. This is no different from using Google.”
Azzopardi also claimed the errors in Cuomo’s housing report were the result of human error, admitting: “It could have been proofread better.”
Four days after a fatal helicopter crash in New York City, investigators fished missing pieces of the doomed craft out of the river, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency that is leading the investigation to determine the cause.
The NTSB said that NYPD divers, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Jersey City Office of Emergency Management, retrieved the main and tail rotor systems, the transmission and the roof beam of the Bell 206L-4 helicopter.
The parts will be secured and examined as part of the federal investigation into the crash. Recovery efforts are now complete, officials said.
A looming strike by beer delivery workers threatens to deprive thousands of Big Apple bars and restaurants – and thirsty New Yorkers – of sweet suds from popular beers such as Coors, Corona and Sam Adams.
Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein is set to face a retrial in Manhattan this week after New York’s Court of Appeals overturned his landmark first conviction.
The disgraced Hollywood producer will face a new trial for sex crimes in New York after a previous conviction was reversed last year.
The MTA’s congestion pricing program continues to accomplish one of its primary goals: drastically reducing the number of vehicles that enter the busiest parts of Manhattan every day.
Data released by the transit agency last week estimates the tolls deterred an average of roughly 82,000 vehicles from entering Manhattan below 60th Street each day in March.
Forest Hills Stadium’s summer concert series will proceed as planned after a deal was reached to resolve a bitter standoff between the venue and a group of nearby residents who had blocked the required city permits, officials said.
Bo Dietl, a private security contractor and ex-NYPD detective, was reportedly interviewed by federal investigators as part of a corruption investigation scrutinizing Tim Pearson, a former top adviser to the mayor.
Four public bathrooms in Tompkins Square Park are coming back to life after a two-year, $5.6 million overhaul. The City Parks Department shut down the field house two years ago after its infamous restrooms were long ranked among the worst around.
The U.S. Army is not planning to eliminate jobs at the Watervliet Arsenal despite predictions last month that nearly 40% of the facility’s workers could have their positions cut due to policy decisions by Trump’s administration.
The separation of the Village of Ballston Spa’s historic district from ongoing efforts to rezone the entire community has some residents fearing that the mayor is attempting to undermine decades of preservation efforts.
The City of Schenectady could soon join Saratoga Springs as one of few places in the region that can boast having a poet laureate.
Jason Moskowitz, the first Republican elected to the Niskayuna Town Board since the 1990s, says he is dropping his effort to force a GOP primary after the party declined to endorse him for a second term — and then mounted an effort to keep him off the ballot.
Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez have clapped back at those criticizing them for participating in the all-female Blue Origin NS-13 mission.
The team, which also included Katy Perry, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, ex-NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn, became the first all-women crew to visit space since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
