You're Not Alone: Taxpayers Have Been Miserable For Decades

NPR | By Claire O'Neill

Published April 16, 2012 at 12:21 PM CDT

Misery loves company. Multitudes are no doubt making the last-minute scramble to finish taxes today. If that's the case for you, perhaps you can take solace in the fact that this tax misery is a long-lived American tradition.

These photos from Life magazine's archives were taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1944. He used a telephoto lens at a New York Internal Revenue information center to capture one doleful face after another. See the full gallery, and happy taxing; may the odds be ever in your favor.

A man at an Internal Revenue information center in New York in 1944