Today is the first day of Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 08) [sometimes refered to as FY 07/08]. The fiscal year has begun in the USA on 1st October since 1976, when Congress pushed back the date from July 1st - to give it more time to complete congressional budget; authorization and appropropriation processes (it doesn't seem to have worked!!!) In the UK the Government's financial year runs from 1st April to 31st March. The personal tax year runs a few days behind - beginning on 6th April. This odd date is a result of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. March 25th (Lady Day) was the first day of the ecclesiastical year. This date was adopted as the start of the fiscal year, but when the Gregorian calendar was introduced 11 days were "lost" - so the start date was pushed back. A further lost day in 1800 led to the present date which is now fixed.
