American icons! Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and: …taxes? Filing taxes is an annual practice for most American households, but you’d be hard-pressed to find too many who enjoy it the way they do apple pie.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expects more than 168 million individual tax returns to be filed this year. And when you have that many people doing the same thing at roughly the same time, the numbers can get pretty staggering.1
For example, 15,000 IRS customer service reps are expected to field roughly 282 million phone calls. Put another way, the IRS has one person for every 16,000 calls.2
“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? … Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Matthew 22:17, 21
So, here’s a lighthearted quiz to help everyone navigate another tax season.
Answer Key
1. A
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. D
4—5 Correct: Congratulations. You know a lot about taxes!
2—3 Correct: Good job. You seem to have a good understanding of the history of taxes.
0—1 Correct: That’s OK. Nobody ever said you have to like taxes
- PewResearch.org, April 18, 2023
- TaxPayerAdvocate.IRS.gov, February 6, 2023
- WoltersKluwer.com, 2024
IrisReading.com, 2024
- Nolo.com, 2024
WSJ.com, September 13, 2022. Keep in mind that any federal taxes owed are due on April 15. An extension only applies to the actual filing. Penalties may apply to unpaid taxes, with some exceptions.
TeachingHistory.org, 2024
- MinneapolisFed.org, 2024
- NationalWW2Museaum.org, 2024