Cardinal Dolan's Ceremony on Tax Day: Would Americans Rather Pay or Pray?

Anticipating the heightened stress level of holding the cardinal ceremony on a day that in and of itself can have quasi-religious undertones for Americans, Blackman Rakowitz Public Relations conducted a national survey to better understand how tax-payers feel about financial uncertainty, separation of "church" and "state," and holding an important and highly revered religious ceremony on Tax Day.

Cindy Rakowitz, CEO of Blackman Rakowitz, said, "Thanks to SurveyMonkey, we were able to gather a quick response to how people felt about holding the parade for a new Cardinal on Tax Day. The majority of the sample could only relate April 15^th to Tax Day--and to reaching the Post Office if they haven't yet filed."

On behalf online bookkeeping service IAC-EZ (www.iac-ez.com), Blackman Rakowitz received a cross-section of national responses through Facebook, Twitter, and Voiceamerica Internet radio where Ms. Rakowitz has hosted a morning show for more than five years. The results were absolutely conclusive: subjects associate April 15th with taxes and strongly believe in the separation of "church" and "state."  Of a nationally representative sample of tax-paying adults, those who file their taxes in the "last minute" felt they would be inconvenienced if Fifth Avenue were blocked off.

Thus, any event that would draw a large crowd on Tax Day should address the anxieties inherent to tax paying. After all, New Yorkers were recently voted #3 in a similar online survey to be "most likely to be last-minute in filing their tax returns." Furthermore, 100% of respondents affirmed that institutions like churches should help work to alleviate the nationwide stresses of the economic downturn, especially in light of Tax Day. This statistic prompted subsequent questions:

• Has the new Cardinal filed his taxes?
• Has he participated in the anxiety, confusion, and group commiseration of tax day?
• Can Cardinal Dolan offer guidance to the thousands of fatigued and hyper-caffeinated New Yorkers who will be attempting to reach the Post Office on Tax Day, the day of his ceremony?
  

It is easy to lose hope for a low-stress (or better yet, stress free!) Tax Day, but as Americans' attention gets pulled in countless directions on April 15, IAC-EZ can offer a solution for the future: an online bookkeeping and tax calculation tool for freelancers, sole proprietors and any small business with five or fewer employees.

Guided by Mr. Networth, a sage, playful bookkeeping genius and a sort of 'cardinal' to the masses of small business owners, IAC-EZ provides people who hate numbers and know nothing about accounting with an accurate and efficient way to keep track of their finances.  If you can get to the James Farley Post Office on April 15th, Mr. Networth will be there from 9:30am - 2:00 pm performing fantastical magic tricks to ease the pain of Tax Day.

Recognizing that life is a convoluted web of financial and social commitments, IAC-EZ helps make the decision to "pay or pray" a simple one: with IAC-EZ, people can do both.