WASHINGTON -- Folks who wait until the last day to trudge to the post office with their income tax payments have a lot of company.
The Postal Service estimated 40 million tax forms will be mailed Thursday, and in many communities there will be a party to mark the event. Many are sponsored by local radio stations and merchants offer free candy and other goodies.Postal officials say free food will be available at dozens of offices across the country, with donations being provided by local outlets of Pizza Hut, Chick-fil-A, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and Bruegger's bagels.
Music will be provided in various locations by barbershop quartets, local collage bands and school students.
Some folks may even find a second job waiting.
In Laguna Beach, Calif., for example, producers of the "Got Milk" advertising campaign will offer screen tests to late filers who think they have star quality.
For those more trusting in luck, state lottery officials will give out free scratch-off tickets in the "Instant Refund" game in Norfolk and Charlottesville, Va.
For dedicated baseball fans, a mobile post office will be set up outside the ballpark in Phoenix, so they can drop off their taxes on the way to the game between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.
Angry taxpayers who want to exercise their throwing arm can go to Harrisburg, Pa., or Sacramento, Calif., where tax agents will be present in dunking tanks.
The patriotic or historically minded may want to mail their tax forms in Hartford, New Haven or Putnam, Conn.; Gainesville, Fla,; Greenville, Pa.; Bryan, Texas or Clarksburg, W. Va. -- all of which claim that Uncle Sam will be present.
A radio station in Bridgman, Mich. will offer aspirin to tax filers in that community, while in Pittsburgh a local drug store chain is providing samples of Mylanta.
And taxpayers in Harrisburg who aren't completely tapped out will also have the opportunity to donate to the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank.