Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 23 this year, the 113th day of 2008 (ignoring Leap Day). That means if you are an average American you will work nearly four months of the year, from January 1 to April 23, before you have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.
Per the Tax Foundations report, Americans, as a whole, work a significant number of days each year to pay for things other than government, but nothing else is so expensive. Americans will work longer to pay for government (113 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (108 days). In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (74 days) than they will to afford housing (60 days). As a group, Americans will also work longer to pay state and local taxes than they will to pay for food.
Tax Freedom Day had arrived later for the four previous years, but due to an expected slowdown in the nation's economy and a massive one-time fiscal stimulus tax cut passed earlier this year, Tax Freedom Day is projected to arrive three days earlier this year compared to last year.
The study is Tax Foundation Special Report No. 160, “America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day®,” by Tax Foundation senior economist Gerald Prante and Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge.
In addition to announcing the nation’s Tax Freedom Day®, the new study compares tax payments to other major consumer expenditures, traces the course of America’s tax burden since 1900, examines the composition of today’s tax burden by type of tax, and calculates a Tax Freedom Day for each state.
