April 11, 2004 is Tax Freedom Day
The good news is that on April 11, 2004, you will have earned enough money to pay all of your taxes for 2004 according to the Tax Foundation, a non–profit tax policy research organization. The bad news is, of course, that you would have had to convert all of your earning up to that date into tax for it to have any meaning! The calculation for Tax Freedom Day, however, is helpful when it comes to viewing the amount of tax you are paying each year.
The Tax Freedom Day in 2004 is the earliest it has been in the past 37 years. The April 11th date is approximately ten days earlier than we have seen since 1980. More importantly, it is eight days earlier than the April 19, 2003 Tax Freedom Day. Here is a list of freedom days from 1980 to 2003.
| Year 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 | Tax Freedom Day April 19 April 21 April 19 April 16 April 15 April 16 April 17 April 21 April 20 April 21 April 20 April 19 April 19 April 21 April 21 April 23 April 24 April 26 April 27 April 29 May 1 April 29 April 27 April 19 |
Regardless of the specific date, you spend approximately 33% of the year earning money for federal, state and local governments. In 2002, an average of 51 business days [excluding weekends] were spent working to pay federal, state and local income taxes. Another 29 days were spent working for payroll taxes including social security and Medicare payments. It is estimated that Americans only spend 5 days worth of their income generating time on personal savings.
Let's hope social security remains solvent!