Thank Lincoln for Extra Tax Time

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 | by Pat's Picks

You can thank Abraham Lincoln for pushing back the tax filing date this year says the New York Daily News. An obscure federal holiday, Emancipation Day, falls on April 16 this year. The IRS and other government agencies will celebrate it on Friday, April 15, which means procrastinators have until April 18 to file their 2010 taxes. The holiday celebrates Lincoln’s freeing of Washington DC slaves on April 16, 1862. It became an official holiday in 2005.

Other states and several Caribbean countries celebrate a form of Emancipation Day on different dates throughout the years.