New York
April in the Bagel is as good as it gets. The girls are back in their summer dresses, people are crowding the outdoor cafés, and Central Park is an explosion of greens and pinks. Spring, as the song says, is busting out all over.
And the taxman cometh — though not for 41 per cent of NYers. Last week, on tax day, it was revealed that an eye-popping 41 per cent of the state’s filers did not pay any federal income tax last year. I don’t know the London figures, but I’d guess they’d be about the same. Being on the dole nowadays is good business, and being on the fiddle is the business of today. And the steady rise in the number of people removed from income tax rolls is the best business of all. Having many children will get you off the list, and if you can guess who is having the fewest children among blacks, Hispanics and whites, I will lend you my boat for a week this summer.

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