Growls

That would be the day of the national celebration this year, i.e., April 13 this year. However, thanks to past plundering by Virginia General Assemblies, in Virginia, Tax Freedom Day is celebrated on April 16 this year. The Tax Foundation calculates the day each year, which answers the question:

“What price is the nation paying for government?" An official government figure for total tax collections is divided by the nation's total income. The answer this year is that taxes will amount to 28.2 percent of our income, and the stretch of 103 days from January 1 to April 13 is 28.2 percent of the year. Income and tax data are then parsed out to the states, yielding 50 state-specific Tax Freedom Days.”

Things could be worse, though. You could live in Connecticut where residents won’t celebrate Tax Freedom Day until April 30, later than New Jersey (April 29), New York (April 25), California (April 20) or Maryland (April 19).

The Foundation points out that Tax Freedom Day is eight days earlier than in 2008 and two weeks earlier than in 2007 “for two reasons: (1) the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income, and (2) the stimulus package includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.”

A front page article in yesterday’s Washington Times about Tax Freedom Day notes, “Some economists say the measure is misleading, and overstates the amount of time needed by many Americans to pay his or her tax bill.” The Times article also contains the following paragraph:

“Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the notion of Tax Freedom Day is problematic because "over the years, many journalists and policymakers have misinterpreted the Tax Foundation's report as reflecting the tax burdens faced by typical middle-income workers." Mr. Greenstein cited "CBO data [that] suggest that 80 percent of U.S. households pay federal taxes at a lower rate than the Tax Foundation's estimated 'average' federal tax burden."

Let’s enjoy those extra eight days! And remember it could be 2007 when we’d be working another two weeks to pay for government.