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Editorial: Tax freedom, at long last
Posted by hpayne on April 18, 2013
When Americans filed their income tax returns on Monday, they probably thought their obligation to the government was done for the year. Not so fast.
According to the Tax Foundation, the Washington, D.C.-based, nonpartisan tax research group, today is Tax Freedom Day — the day when the average taxpayer has actually earned enough money to pay their total local, state and federal tax bill for the year.
For the 257 days left in 2013, Americans will be keeping their hard-earned dollars for themselves.
Tax Freedom Day comes five days later this year than last, a result of higher taxes from the fiscal cliff deal, as well as a wave of new taxes imposed on Jan. 1 to pay for Obamacare. That’s bad news in an economy still struggling to gain momentum in the worst economic recovery since World War II, and it’s reflected in a slowdown in consumer spending.
In 2013, the Tax Foundation notes Americans will pay 29.4 percent (108 days) of their income in taxes — $2.76 trillion federal and $1.45 trillion state — for a total tax bill of $4.22 trillion. That translates into 108 days of work. Here’s the breakdown:
Federal income tax: 32 days
Entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security: 24 days
Federal excise taxes: two days
Federal, state and local corporate income taxes: nine days
State and local individual income taxes: eight days
State and local sales and excise taxes: 12 days
Property taxes: eight days
Miscellaneous federal, state and local taxes: six days.
The good news for Michiganians is that — thanks to a below-average state tax burden — Tax Freedom Day in Michigan arrived April 14. That puts the state 23rd nationally, and keeps it competitive with neighboring states like Indiana (April 13) and Ohio (April 12).
But the federal budget Leviathan continues to demand a greater tax burden of Americans. In 1932, Americans spent just 10 days paying federal taxes versus 46 days for state and local. Big jumps in Washington spending during World War II flipped the balance, with the tax burden not only growing, but also becoming more federal in weight.
With the explosion in federal entitlement costs — despite a brief respite during the Reagan years — taxes continued to rise with Tax Freedom Day in 2000 not arriving until May 1. After falling back in the early 2000s, the trend of a later Tax Freedom Day has resumed under President Barack Obama.
Taxes have climbed to pay for stimulus spending and the president’s legislative initiatives. In addition to an increase in the top income tax rate, taxes on capital gains and dividends jumped 33 percent Jan. 1. Obamacare increased taxes on investment earnings 25 percent and placed a 2.3 percent tax on medical device makers’ sales. Those are big diversions of revenue from America’s more efficient private markets to spendthrift government agencies.
The Tax Foundation also includes this caveat: Its Tax Freedom Day calculus does not include the enormous, unpaid debt that the federal government is back loading on future generations. Since 2009, the federal deficit has exceeded $1 trillion a year and the federal debt is a startling $17 trillion — that’s $53,400 per person.