Tax Freedom Day is the day when individuals in the entire nation, or state, have earned enough money to pay the total tax bill for the year. It includes all federal, state, and local taxes and divides them by the total income of all individuals.
Last year, Americans were forced to pay $3.28 trillion in federal taxes, and $1.57 trillion in state and local taxes. Here in Utah, Tax Freedom Day arrives on April 20th:
This year’s report by the Tax Foundation reveals an astonishing statistic: Americans collectively spend more on taxes than they do on food, clothing, and housing combined.
Elected officials like to proclaim Utah as a bastion of limited government and low taxes, but this metric alone clarifies that the truth is at odds with these claims. Being forced to work for nearly one third of an entire year, just to offset the expenses imposed upon us by the government, is a horrendous and depressing statistic.
Our recent Freest Cities report also took a look at the cost of city governments throughout Utah; depending on where you live in the state, your burden of taxes may be higher than other Utahns.
Clearly, more work is needed in the realm of eliminating and lowering taxes; Tax Freedom Day should be sometime in January.
