8. The Hawaiian tax refund, April 1, 1954
It was another disk jockey, at Hawaii’s KHON radio, who created a frenzy through an April Fools’ Day joke in 1954. The radio station announced that the United States had granted statehood to the territory, and as a result, Hawaiians were to receive refunds on the income taxes paid for 1953. IRS offices in the islands and on the mainland were flooded with calls from citizens demanding additional information. So were radio stations, television stations, congressional offices, savings and loans, and banks. The entire territory of Hawaii, not then as populated as today, was placed in a frenzy before cooler heads prevailed.
The situation of residents of Hawaii, who paid federal income taxes but were not granted full rights as citizens of the United States, had been much in the news. Tax relief for the islanders had been discussed among members of Congress, including those lobbying for statehood for the islands. The joke did little other than roil the islands for a few days, before it was demonstrably proven false. Statehood was not granted to the islands until 1959, and Hawaiians were never refunded the income taxes they paid before statehood was achieved.