May 5, 2008
The Hawaii Reporter on Tax Freedom Day
When is Your Tax Freedom Day?, by Richard Olivastro
Each year, most Americans refer to April 15th as ‘Tax Day'. That's understandable given the reality that April 15th is typically the ‘deadline' for filing income tax returns, so many people use it as a target date of sorts.
Despite that practice, there is a more important date for every citizen—‘Tax Freedom Day'. That's the day when each of us has earned enough income to pay our tax liability to the federal and state levels of government. ‘Tax Freedom Day' obviously varies for each of us given the variables involved. Still, there is good work done with data analysis by the Tax Foundation in Washington, DC that gives us insight, and the opportunity to compare tax burdens by state of residence plus the District of Columbia.
Before you continue to read, it is in your interest to pause for several moments, and consciously bring to your thought process the date you are actually reading this column, as well as your state of residence.
Now, with those two facts in the forefront of your mind, you're ready to proceed.
This year, ‘Tax Freedom Day' is April 23rd. Which means the average taxpayer will work their first 113 days for the government—federal and state.
Don't want to think of yourself as ‘average'?
OK; you just might be ‘above' or ‘below' average—as a U. S. taxpayer.
Thanks to the Tax Foundation, we can look at taxpayer data by state to find the answer for you. [Read the full article.]
