The US Census Bureau has a daily update they call Profile America. It typically has a daily clip that gives a snap shot of the history, as well as current state, of some relevant daily topic. Being April 16th, or the day that federal taxes are due, today's clip deals with tax collection and preparation in the US. You can go here for the audio file, or read the transcript below for today's topic.
Profile America -- Monday, April 16th. Debate about income tax rates ebbs and flows through the years, but has been especially heated during this presidential election year. Federal income taxes have been around since 1913, when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution gave Congress the right to levy such taxes. The first year, fewer than 360,000 returns were filed. Now, some 142.5 million returns are submitted annually. For those who don't like to compute their own taxes, there are nearly 112,000 tax preparation offices around the nation. Of these, close to 87,000 are single person businesses. We spend nearly $7 billion a year to have our taxes prepared. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.
For other clips, visit the Profile America page at the Census website.
