Maura Chwastyk

The athletes have been training for the last four years. The city has been preparing for the last seven years. And the fans have been booking their tickets for months and months. The 2012 London Summer Olympics are upon us!

Remember the kids who always sat in the front of the classroom, the ones who reminded the teacher when she forgot to hand out homework?

“Nothing can said to be certain, except death and taxes.” As April 15 approaches, those famous words from Benjamin Franklin resonate stronger and stronger. Yet Franklin spoke them 100 years before the most difficult and vexing tax to most Americans — the income tax — even existed. So how exactly did the income tax as we know it come to be?

So, you think you’re ready to file your taxes, huh? Well, not so fast.