TAX MAN HATH COME; LAST-MINUTE FILERS PACK POST OFFICES

Taxpayers crowded into the Cape Girardeau post office Thursday to mail their tax returns.

Area residents streamed into the post office throughout the day, most of them intent on mailing their tax returns.

"We will cancel 300,000 to 350,000 pieces of mail," Postmaster Mike Keefe. "It's been busy all day long."

Normally, the post office cancels about 170,000 pieces of mail.

Keefe estimated that 70 percent of Thursday's customers mailed tax returns.

Keefe wasn't surprised to see so many taxpayers. "Aren't we the country of procrastinators?" he asked a reporter.

Keefe talked to many of the customers who visited the post office throughout the day. He said about half of them said they were due tax refunds.

Customers didn't seem to mind having to wait in line, he said. "Most people understand they are coming in late."

The post office closed its windows at 5 p.m., forcing late arrivals to fend for themselves in the post office lobby.

Business was brisk at an outside postal collection box, where taxpayers could drop off their returns until midnight and still make the tax deadline.

Inside, a steady crowd of rush-hour taxpayers stood in line to purchase stamps from a machine and use the scale in the lobby.

Doug Richards of Cape Girardeau was a last-minute filer. "I am running about five hours ahead of last year," a smiling Richards said.

"When you owe money, you always wait to the last minute," Richards said.

His was just one of 126 million tax returns the Internal Revenue Service expected to receive this year.

Across the nation, there was a festive atmosphere at many post offices.

A piano player was set to play in Boston's main post office. Outside, an actress dressed as Mother nature was hired by a vitamin company to hand out free packets of kava root. The kava root is supposed to ease stress.

Some post offices tried to rub out the anxiety with free back and neck massages.

Aspiring actors and actresses might have wanted to pay their taxes in Newport Beach, Calif.

The U.S. Agriculture Department capitalized on the post office crowds by conducting screen tests for its "Got Milk" campaign.

There were no screen tests at the Cape Girardeau Post Office.

A trio of tax experts from the Internal Revenue Service and Missouri Department of Revenue sat at a table in the lobby answering questions and providing forms for last-minute filers.

Bill Seabaugh of Fruitland looked over the stacks of forms.

"I want to file whichever one gets me the most money back," he remarked.

Seabaugh said he had nearly finished filling out his tax forms. But he stopped by the post office to pick up some forms to file for tax extensions just in case.

"I thought I was going to owe," said Seabaugh, explaining why he waited until the last minute.

A copy machine in the post office lobby received steady use from taxpayers wanting a copy of their tax returns.

The IRS and Department of Revenue staff members spent much of the evening directing taxpayers to the stamp machine, scale and outside collection box. The lobby mail slot closed at 5 p.m.

"This is a busy place," said IRS agent Jim Britt as he watched customers crowd into the lobby.

Beth Smith of Cape Girardeau stopped by the table for some last-minute answers to tax questions. "It's a blessing," she said of the tax advice.

But for a handful of members from the Cape Girardeau County Libertarian Party, the tax deadline wasn't a blessing.

The Libertarians stood outside the post office late Thursday afternoon protesting what they view as high federal taxes.

They handed out fake, $1 million bills to customers entering the post office.

According to the protesters, the federal government spends $1 million every five seconds.

"It's a lot of money," said Greg Tlapek, county chairman of the Libertarian Party. "Taxes are too high."

Tlapek and fellow party members spent part of the day collecting signatures for a petition that will be sent to state and federal lawmakers in support of lower taxes.

The petition drive netted some 70 signatures within a few hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.