Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, communities across South Dade are preparing to pause and remember. Observances are planned at Homestead Air Reserve Base, South Dade Senior High School, Butterfly Cooperative School and Miami Dade College's Kendall Campus, in a community shaped by military service and first responders. The anniversary also carries a local connection through Florida Task Force 1, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team that deployed to Ground Zero.

Many pleasant events and activities take place between now and the middle of April. Filing income tax is not one of those, and despite several…