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A28 u.s. news
Diamars 19 aPriL 2022

Rain dampens the 1st White House Easter Egg Roll since 2019

(AP) — Undaunted by kicked off the first White rus pandemic on Monday, day event. 2020 and 2021. But the event
soggy skies, President Joe House Easter Egg Roll welcoming some 30,000 is back this year, as the out-
Biden and his wife, Jill, since before the coronavi- kids and adults for the all- The president encouraged break of coronavirus cases,
one young egg-roller, coach- hospitalizations and deaths
ing the child, “Go. You got has eased.
it.”
“This year we’re finally get-
“My job is to keep it from ting together again, and it’s
raining for another two min- so special,” the president told
utes,” he said in opening re- the guests.
marks on the South Lawn.
“Tonight Show” host Jim-
The theme for the day was my Fallon, singer Ciara and
“egg-ucation.” The first lady, actor-singer Kristin Che-
a community college profes- noweth were set to add a
sor, turned the South Lawn dash of celebrity splash to the
into a school community “egg-stravaganza.”
with a variety of educational
stations. More than two dozen cos-
tumed characters were on
“The determined spirit of hand, including Dr. Seuss’
education is what we wanted The Cat in the Hat, the Rac-
to honor in this Easter Egg ing Presidents mascots for
Roll,” she said in brief wel- the Washington Nationals of
coming remarks. Major League Baseball, Rosi-
ta and Cookie Monster from
Besides the egg roll and an “Sesame Street” and Snoopy
egg hunt, the event included and Charlie Brown, among
a schoolhouse activity area, a others.
reading nook, a talent show,
a place to teach about farm- The event kicked off at
ing, a photo-taking station, a around 7 a.m., with the first of
physical “egg-ucation” zone five waves of people, includ-
with an obstacle course, and a ing kids wearing their Easter
“cafetorium” where children best, streaming through the
learned to make treats. White House gates.
The COVID-19 pandemic The White House Easter Egg
led the White House to can- Roll dates to 1878.
cel the Easter Egg Roll in

On Tax Day, an extension may be better than rushing a return

(AP) — Monday is Tax But, she added, “People don’t advanced Child Tax Credit. agency, with its record low Lisa Greene-Lewis, a certi-
Day — the federal dead- realize that filing an exten- staffing numbers. The IRS fied public accountant and a
line for individual tax fil- sion has zero effect” as long And some forms are reviewed workforce is the same size it spokesperson at TurboTax,
ing and payments — and as they have paid their in- by IRS employees and treated was in 1970, though the U.S. said that if people still intend
the IRS expects to receive come taxes by Tax Day. as if submitted on paper even population has grown expo- to file a return by Tax Day, “I
tens of millions of last- if they are e-filed. nentially and tax laws have would gather all your docu-
minute filings electroni- “An extension is merely filing become increasingly compli- ments in one place so you
cally and through paper a return at a later date,” Tross This year will be one of the cated. don’t leave anything out, like
forms. said. “If you rush through a most challenging for the W-2s and 1099s.”
return to get it out the door,
As of April 8, the IRS had re- and you have to amend it lat-
ceived more than 103 million er, you’re more likely to get
returns for this tax season, a double look from the IRS.”
and it had issued more than
63 million refunds worth “You’re much better off ex-
more than $204 billion. tending than amending,” she
said.
For comparison, last year
more than 169 million peo- The IRS this year is facing
ple completed an income tax its biggest backlog in his-
return by the end of the year. tory. At the end of the 2021
That probably leaves nearly filing season, the agency had
40% of this year’s taxpayers 35.3 million returns waiting
still unaccounted for, with for processing. One reason
many scrambling to submit is that every paper document
their documents by Monday. that goes into the IRS is pro-
cessed by a human, according
Nina Tross, executive direc- to the IRS.
tor of the National Society
of Tax Professionals, said that Another is that the agency
if people haven’t filed their has administered massive
taxes by now, “they’re better coronavirus pandemic-relat-
off filing an extension.” ed relief programs over the
last several years — like the