Tax Day Cometh, Look Busy!

It’s April 14th, your taxes are due tomorrow, you should file them. I thought that was a warning that didn’t need to be issued in 2010. However, I’ve been stunned by some of the prominent figures who have revealed to me that they’re just now getting around to doing their taxes (they should know better).

As we discussed back in January, Tax Time is more than just fulfilling an obligation, it’s an opportunity for all families to make productive investments in themselves and their financial security. And as we discussed last year, there are a number of ways that non-profits are working to make tax time an opportunity for all Americans to save and invest. In addition, the Obama Administration made Savings Bonds available on the tax form, and has proposed sweeping reform of federal asset limits in means tested programs (as detailed in the Assets Report 2010.)

There is real and exciting progress around making Tax Time a time for savings, investment and increased opportunity. There’s also a lot of information flying around about taxes and the economy in general out there, and I thought this would provide a good opportunity to direct folks to some of it (but only if you’ve finished doing your taxes, otherwise, hop to it):

• David Leonhardt has an interesting look at the politics of the way we talk about paying taxes.
• 62% of people think the income tax they pay is fair.
• Ezra Klein has a (funny) look back at the history of tax time.
• Martha White at Slate’s The Big Money provides a look at the five worst items in the tax code.
• On top of all that, there’s “good” economic news out today, consumer spending is up, spurring the markets forward. Last month’s report had the Personal Savings Rate declining from 3.4% to 3.1% from January to February, so will we expect further declines when the new data comes out in two weeks? When are we going to see the 8% savings rate we were promised?