Tax Freedom Day April 18

Published 4:28 pm Tuesday, April 2, 2013

 

WASHINGTON — Tax Freedom Day arrive April 18, the 108th day of 2013, according to the Tax Foundation’s annual calculation.

Americans work well over three and a half months of the year before they earn enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.

Both higher federal taxes and rebounding incomes contribute to this year’s date, which is five days later than in 2012.

To pay for all spending in the current year, the government would need to raise an additional $833 billion in taxes, pushing Tax Freedom Day to May 9.

“This year, Americans will work five days later than in 2012 to pay all of their taxes. The total tax bill at all levels comes to approximately $4.2 trillion, or 29.4 percent of their total income,” said economist William McBride. “That means Americans will pay more in taxes in 2013 than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.”

Historically, the date for Tax Freedom Day has fluctuated significantly. The latest-ever nationwide Tax Freedom Day was May 1, 2000 – meaning Americans paid one-third of their total income in taxes. A century earlier, in 1900, Americans paid only 5.9 percent of their income in taxes, meaning Tax Freedom Day came on Jan. 22.

Five major categories of taxes dominate the tax burden. Individual income taxes – including federal, state and local – require 40 days of work. Payroll taxes take another 24 days of work. Sales and excise taxes, mostly state and local, take 15 days to pay off. Property taxes take 12 days, and corporate income taxes take another nine.

The Tax Foundation is a non-partisan research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.