Usually April 15th is the day when tax filings are due to the Internal Revenue Service, but because today is “Emancipation Day” Americans have a reprieve until this Monday, April 18th to file their Federal and State tax returns.
The IRS is observing a holiday that is usually only observed in Washington, DC. Emancipation Day marks the day that the Compensated Emancipation Act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln and is observed on April 16. Emancipation Day is a legal holiday in DC, and public employees are given the day off work. However, because April 16, 2016, falls on a Saturday, it is celebrated on the closest weekday, which is today, Friday April 15.
Americans will still have to work until April 24th to earn enough money, on average, to pay what we owe the government this year, according to the Tax Foundation, a tax policy research group. This year, the Tax Foundation estimates that Americans will pay $5 trillion in federal, state and local taxes — that’s about 31% percent of the nation’s income.
With that being said, oil along with financial & tech stocks brought the markets down today. In advance of the important OPEC meeting this weekend U.S. crude oil futures settled down $1.14, or 2.75 percent at $40.36 a barrel. Apple and Goldman Sachs led the decliners on the Dow. Apple fell more than 1.5% percent following a report that the company will reduce production of the iPhone because of sluggish sales.
Also today Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz explained to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” why he thinks a stock market crash is coming.
Here are the final numbers from Friday, 4/15/16 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,897.39 (-29.04 / -0.16 %)
NASDAQ: 4.938.22 (-7.67 / -0.16 %)
S&P 500: 2,080.73 (-2.05 / -0.10%)
