It?s not that he didn?t want to cough up the money.
In fact, Reisterstown resident Steven Bean says the federal government owes him ? enough to pay for a vacation to Florida in July. But that didn?t stop him from joining millions of Americans who waited until the last minute Tuesday to send off their tax returns.
“I?m not in a pinch to get the cash,” Bean said as he stood in Baltimore?s main post office on Fayette Street, filling out various forms. “As long as I get it by July.”
Even with two extra days, the Internal Revenue Service anticipates 9.6 million taxpayers missed Tuesday?s deadline. In Baltimore, the Fayette Street post office braced for an onslaught, staying openuntil midnight and stationing employees on the street to collect returns from customers? cars.
Police officers were called in to direct traffic.
“That?s what we?re here for, even though they?re going to make me work till midnight,” joked Elaine Smith, communications director for the post office. “I don?t know why, but they wait for the last minute.”
Some area accountants offered their theories.
Albert Murphy, a Middle River-based CPA, chalks it up to procrastination. He said he took Tuesday easy after filing extension requests for absent-minded clients. This year, the IRS streamlined its extension policy, providing automatic six-month extensions in a single form.
But Benjamin Brooks said people develop relationships with their accountants, and expect them to bail them out at the last minute.
“They feel they can go get it done in a moment?s notice,” Brooks said from his Randallstown office. “They forget about the bottleneck syndrome.”
At the Fayette Street post office Tuesday night, members of the Towson-based peace group Pledge of Resistance encouraged taxpayers to fight what they called a “war tax.”
According to their literature, about half of Americans? income tax dollars fund the military, with the average Baltimore household chipping in almost $600 this year.
That?s broken down into direct military funding, military debt and veterans? programs, according to group spokesman Max Obuszewski.
