Every year it happens: People wake up on April 15 in a panic because they haven’t filed their taxes. They rush through the process and hurry to submit the paperwork at the last minute … until they realize they really have three extra days.
That’s right, Tax Day is actually April 18 this year, even though April 15 is a weekday. For all the contempt most of the country holds for Washington, D.C., you can thank the city government for your extra time.
The city celebrates Emancipation Day every April 16 to recognize the day President Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing more than 3,000 slaves in the district. But since April 16 is a Saturday, the Emancipation Day celebration gets moved up to Friday, April 15. Almost no one other than city employees gets the day off, but that’s enough of a reason for the IRS to move Tax Day.
If you live in Maine or Massachusetts, you actually get four extra days to file. Those states celebrate Patriots Day on April 18, so their deadline gets pushed back to April 19. It’s unclear why the IRS can change the deadline on state-by-state basis for Maine and Massachusetts on April 18 but not for Washington on April 15.
As Richard Auxier at the Tax Policy Center points out, this marks an ironic switch in the power struggle between Washington and the federal government. Typically, the federal government has the upper-hand over Washington, but the Emancipation Day situation is one way the city gets to impose its will on the federal government.
The last time Tax Day happened on April 18 was in 2011.
The good news gets better: Because April 15 is a Saturday in 2017, taxes aren’t due until April 17 next year.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
