April 3 Tax Freedom Day
Congratulations to all you hard “working” citizens of Georgia. April 3 is the date this year that you have “worked” hard enough to pay all of your tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels. Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
Georgia is the 14th earliest Tax Freedom Day to arrive out of the fifty states in the United States. The national average for this year is calculated to be Tuesday, April 12.
The nonpartisan/nonprofit group The Tax Foundation reports that because of modest incomes and low state and local tax burdens, Mississippi celebrates its Tax Freedom Day first in the nation on March 26, after only 85 days. Tennessee (March 27), South Carolina (March 29), Louisiana (March 30), and South Dakota (March 30) round out the top five.
High-income states pay much more in federal taxes, and they often have higher state/local taxes as well. Connecticut is the last in the nations to observe Tax Freedom Day, on May 2, with 122 days required for state taxpayers to pay the year’s tax total. Other states with late celebrations include New Jersey (April 29), New York (April 24), Maryland (April 17) and Washington (April 16).
You want even more interesting figures? According to the U.S. Census, the United States population is 311,106,973. According the Internal Revenue Service, the total amount of U.S. income taxpayers is 111,129,422. In essence, approximately one-third of the country’s citizenry pay the bills. Does anyone else see something wrong here?
I guess it could be worse for us Georgians; our Tax Freedom Day could be May 2.
-Jamie Gardner
How Tax Freedom Day Is Calculated
Tax Freedom Day answers the basic 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 27.68 percent of our income - the same percentage of the year accounted for by the 102 days from January 1 to April 12. Income and tax data are then parsed out to the states, yielding 50 state-specific Tax Freedom Days. The source for income and tax data is the National Income and Product Accounts published by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. For more information, go to http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.
The nonpartisan/nonprofit group The Tax Foundation reports that because of modest incomes and low state and local tax burdens, Mississippi celebrates its Tax Freedom Day first in the nation on March 26, after only 85 days. Tennessee (March 27), South Carolina (March 29), Louisiana (March 30), and South Dakota (March 30) round out the top five.
High-income states pay much more in federal taxes, and they often have higher state/local taxes as well. Connecticut is the last in the nations to observe Tax Freedom Day, on May 2, with 122 days required for state taxpayers to pay the year’s tax total. Other states with late celebrations include New Jersey (April 29), New York (April 24), Maryland (April 17) and Washington (April 16).
You want even more interesting figures? According to the U.S. Census, the United States population is 311,106,973. According the Internal Revenue Service, the total amount of U.S. income taxpayers is 111,129,422. In essence, approximately one-third of the country’s citizenry pay the bills. Does anyone else see something wrong here?
I guess it could be worse for us Georgians; our Tax Freedom Day could be May 2.
-Jamie Gardner
How Tax Freedom Day Is Calculated
Tax Freedom Day answers the basic 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 27.68 percent of our income - the same percentage of the year accounted for by the 102 days from January 1 to April 12. Income and tax data are then parsed out to the states, yielding 50 state-specific Tax Freedom Days. The source for income and tax data is the National Income and Product Accounts published by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. For more information, go to http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.
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