Retailers Want Your Tax Refund
NPR
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or
Flash plugin.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
It's the deadline to file your taxes. And if you're getting a money back, retailers want it. They're offering sales and promotions to separate you from your hard-earned refund.
Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And our last word in business is: Tax Day.
If you are waking up this morning and you haven't filed your taxes, well, you still have time to do it.
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
I'm sure you've done yours, right, David?
GREENE: No comment. If you end up getting money back in a return, retailers actually want that money. They're offering sales and promotions to separate you from that hard-earned refund.
DAVID MUHLBAUM: Well, businesses are looking for an opportunity for a promotion and they've decided to attach themselves to Tax Day, which has not always had the greatest connotations for people, but here's a chance to get something for free or for less.
MCEVERS: David Muhlbaum is in editor at the personal finance site Kiplinger.com. He says retailers will try anything for a sale.
MUHLBAUM: You know, when you look at the Facebook pages of these major chains, they are offering promotions all year round tied to the most improbable things.
GREENE: For example, Tax Day. Boston Market has a chicken for $10.40. That's 1040, like the tax form. And Great American Cookies, the chain of cookie stores, is giving away free chocolate chip cookies today. Yay. It's all fair game, says Muhlbaum.
MUHLBAUM: You know, it's like any promotion. It's not entirely clear why we're supposed to buy cars on Presidents' Day but yet that's what a promotions are. You know, if they can get you in the store with a free cookie, chances are you might find more. Buy more, you might come back again.
MCEVERS: And again, you might put it off. Right, David? Just like taxes?
GREENE: Yeah.
MCEVERS: The IRS has gotten about 100 million tax returns so far for this year, expects another 35 million by today's deadline. About 12 million people - ahem - have asked for extensions.
That's the business news from MORNING EDITION on NPR News. I'm Kelly McEvers.
GREENE: Oh, sorry. I was already starting to finish my taxes. I'm David Greene. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
View this story on npr.org
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today