Happy Income Tax Day. If you work for a living, that’s a
joke.
It feels odd to be writing the majority report, but the studies
are consistent: Americans hate paying taxes. A 2005 Associated
Press poll found that 70 percent of us think federal income taxes
are too complicated. We are evenly divided on whether we would
rather go to the dentist (49 percent) or do our taxes (48
percent.)
Happy Income Tax Day. If you work for a living, that’s a joke.
It feels odd to be writing the majority report, but the studies are consistent: Americans hate paying taxes. A 2005 Associated Press poll found that 70 percent of us think federal income taxes are too complicated. We are evenly divided on whether we would rather go to the dentist (49 percent) or do our taxes (48 percent.)
Nearly a third of us put off doing our taxes until the final weeks before the April 15 deadline. Another 9 million Americans will file an extension and send their taxes in late. The post office will have extended hours on April 15 to accommodate all of us who wait till the last minute.
I did my federal taxes in February, not through any innate sense of order or timeliness, and certainly not because of a patriotic desire to enrich the U.S. Treasury, but because our youngest is off to a four-year university next year. Therefore I have to file a FAFSA by March 2, in order to qualify for scholarships. And to file the FAFSA, I need to complete our 1040, so the domino effect means I must have our taxes completed by March 2.
But not mailed. Oh, no. Completed, signed, copied, check made out, in an envelope, but not mailed. I keep the actual funds in our account until this week.
The good news is that Tax Freedom Day is just around the corner: Wednesday April 23rd will be American Tax Freedom Day, the day when Americans stop working to pay their taxes and begin working to feed and clothe themselves.
California Tax Freedom Day arrives a week later, April 30th, this year. This is partly because California has a greater tax burden than most other states, and partly because incomes tend to be higher here, which makes income taxes commensurately higher.
Tax Freedom Day is calculated annually by the Tax Foundation. They divide total taxes collected in the USA by the total income, to determine what percent of our income goes to pay for government: 30.8 percent this year.
According to Tax Foundation senior economist Gerald Prante, “Tax freedom has been a see-saw affair in recent years. In 2000, Tax Freedom Day was celebrated May 3, the latest date ever. Then a string of tax cuts between 2001 and 2003 pushed Tax Freedom Day up by more than two weeks, so that it fell on April 16 in 2003 and April 17 in 2004. For the next three years, incomes and tax collections soared, pushing Tax Freedom Day back to April 26 in 2007. Now the stimulus rebates and a projected slowing of income growth have made Tax Freedom Day come three days earlier, on April 23.”
Democrat taxpayers should note that the Bush administration is responsible for the above-mentioned string of tax cuts. If you enjoy paying taxes, by all means, vote Democrat.
As matters stand, the average American works 74 days to pay for his federal taxes, then 39 more days to pay his state and local taxes. He works 60 days to pay for his housing and household expenses, 50 days for health and medical expenses, 35 days to buy food, another 29 days to pay for his transportation.
The average American then spends the proceeds from 21 days of work on recreation, 13 days on clothing, and has 45 days of pay left to fritter. Since Californians work seven days more to pay for taxes, we only have 38 days of pay to fritter.
As April 15 approaches, I take special notice of any proposals to raise my taxes. This year, the school board is considering a bond to raise an extra $23 million dollars to pay for Christopher High School. In 2002, Gilroy voters passed a $69 million bond to build Christopher High School. Unfortunately, there were a lot of other items on the bond list, and somehow the other items got taken care of before the high school, so now the school board is asking for more money to pay for what they said they would do six years ago.
It’s like being nibbled to death by ducks.
