Tax Day Quick Fix 6 (4/15/05)

Believe it or not, the Internal Revenue Service has a seven-man staff working to save hours in tax filing by eliminating unneeded requirements. Still, Americans spent 6.6 billion hours doing the paperwork for tax filing this year, including 1.6 billion hours for the basic 1040 form. You can read all about before tonight’s deadline for filing income taxes here .

1. Political ‘Toon Fix: Brian Fairrington ( Tax Day ), Daryl Cagle ( Picking John Paul’s successor ), and Gary Varvel ( Gas prices ).

2. Humor Fix: President Bush had lunch with U.S. troops yesterday. It’s been exactly two years since the fall of Baghdad and just as Bush predicted, Baghdad fell, Iraq fell, Saddam fell — the only thing that didn’t fall was the price of gas” — Jay Leno .

3. My Way Fix: This Day in History here , Today’s Birthdays here , and Positive Quote here .

4. Top of the News Fix: Unborn baby threatens Mom in Carl’s Jr. ad here , Authorities free 1 million aliens here , Tax Freedom Day April 17 this year here , Accused fragger GI wrote of killing comrades here , and Protesters picket Victoria’s Secret here .

5. Tax Day Fix: You may not want to read how the government will spend the $22,039 it collects per household — $4,000 more than in 2001 when the Bush administration took over. But the Heritage Foundation provides an analysis for you anyway here .

6. Opinion Fix: Alexander F.C. Webster /Orthodox Church ( Another Christian patriarch dies ), Daniel Henninger /Wall Street Journal ( “Tradition!” ), Jonah Goldberg /National Review ( Happy Birthday, McDonald’s ), Catherine Seipp /Cathy’s World ( Righty Warrior Horowitz ), and R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. /American Spectator ( DeLay will survive — easily ).