It's Wednesday, April the 15th, 2026, and you've joined us for Denison Forum's Daily Article podcast. Welcome.

I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's daily article authored by friend and cultural theologian, Dr. Jim Denison.

If you're unhappy about paying federal income taxes today, blame the 16th Amendment.

If you're expecting a refund and which the filing date was earlier, blame Congress.

In 1955, it moved the date from March 15th to April 15th, reportedly so the government can hold onto your money longer before issuing your

refund. Here's some related good news. Tax Freedom Day will soon be here. As the Tax

Project website explains, this is the day when you have earned enough to pay your combined

federal, state, and local tax contributions for the year.

It typically falls somewhere between the second and third week of April,

though it's later for people who pay state income taxes.

For the rest of the year, you can finally begin working for and paying yourself.

On the other hand, I'm grateful for the benefits of the taxes I pay.

As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. noted, quote,

the tax is the price of what we pay for civilized society.

I wouldn't want to try to replicate what the government does with the money I pay

from roads to schools to police and military forces. And I've traveled

overseas enough to be deeply grateful to live in America with all our flaws and failings. On the other

hand, it feels liberating to think that everything I earn from this point forward is mine to do with as I wish. My friends in Cuba have

no idea what it's like to experience such autonomy. For most people across most of human history,

individual freedom was more a myth than a reality, from subjects of the emperor or monarch,

to feudal serfs working lands owned by their lords,

to vast populations ruled by autocrats and communist dictators,

...