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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
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