Tax Freedom Day
Posted by LionelHutz 11 years ago to Economics
Tax Freedom Day
The government just unhooked the milking machine and man are my teats sore!
For those unfamiliar with the concept of Tax Freedom Day, the idea is to change one's perspective of how taxes are paid, to shock one into awareness that "Houston, we have a problem."
Instead of having your tax payments spread out over the entire year...what would happen if 100% of your wages were confiscated, starting January 1, until your "fair share" of taxes were paid? How long would you be working before the government said "OK - you're done.", and you got to actually keep your earnings?
For the majority of (productive) USA citizens, you just reached that point. You have labored 1/3 of the year to pay for your government.
If you want to run your own calculations for tax freedom day, a (rough) way to do it is:
A) Pull out your 1040 and (for 2012) record line 61 - your federal income tax obligation.
B) Look at 1040 Schedule A, line 6 - your property taxes.
C) Examine your state tax form and search for the equivalent to 1040 line 61 on it - your state income tax.
D) Examine your W2 form - it should have a line that records your yearly FICA (Social Security) contribution.
E) Examine your W2 form - it should have a line that records your yearly MEDFICA (Medicare) contribution.
F) Did you buy a car or any other big-ticket items? Multiply the cost of them by your sales tax rate.
G) Add in the cost of automobile licensing/registration.
H) Calculate how long it takes you to earn (before taxes) the sum total of A-G.
My opinion: It is absolutely crazy that we have to work for months on end before we meet our tax obligations.
In a sane world, the average person would have to work perhaps one week to fund the federal government, and perhaps two weeks to fund the state government.
Yet, to the people in government, we the producers are simply not paying our fair share.
We have about half of the people work 1/3 of the year (or more), while the other half paid absolutely ZERO in the biggest tax category (federal income tax).
http://www.ehow.com/info_8023998_percent...
What do you feel is reasonable? How long should one have to work for their government? I would love it if anyone has historical data from our country's first century. We did manage to run a country for a good century without the income tax! I wonder how long the average citizen was working for their government back then? I have a feeling we have fallen very, VERY far from what the founders envisioned.
Mooooo.....
The government just unhooked the milking machine and man are my teats sore!
For those unfamiliar with the concept of Tax Freedom Day, the idea is to change one's perspective of how taxes are paid, to shock one into awareness that "Houston, we have a problem."
Instead of having your tax payments spread out over the entire year...what would happen if 100% of your wages were confiscated, starting January 1, until your "fair share" of taxes were paid? How long would you be working before the government said "OK - you're done.", and you got to actually keep your earnings?
For the majority of (productive) USA citizens, you just reached that point. You have labored 1/3 of the year to pay for your government.
If you want to run your own calculations for tax freedom day, a (rough) way to do it is:
A) Pull out your 1040 and (for 2012) record line 61 - your federal income tax obligation.
B) Look at 1040 Schedule A, line 6 - your property taxes.
C) Examine your state tax form and search for the equivalent to 1040 line 61 on it - your state income tax.
D) Examine your W2 form - it should have a line that records your yearly FICA (Social Security) contribution.
E) Examine your W2 form - it should have a line that records your yearly MEDFICA (Medicare) contribution.
F) Did you buy a car or any other big-ticket items? Multiply the cost of them by your sales tax rate.
G) Add in the cost of automobile licensing/registration.
H) Calculate how long it takes you to earn (before taxes) the sum total of A-G.
My opinion: It is absolutely crazy that we have to work for months on end before we meet our tax obligations.
In a sane world, the average person would have to work perhaps one week to fund the federal government, and perhaps two weeks to fund the state government.
Yet, to the people in government, we the producers are simply not paying our fair share.
We have about half of the people work 1/3 of the year (or more), while the other half paid absolutely ZERO in the biggest tax category (federal income tax).
http://www.ehow.com/info_8023998_percent...
What do you feel is reasonable? How long should one have to work for their government? I would love it if anyone has historical data from our country's first century. We did manage to run a country for a good century without the income tax! I wonder how long the average citizen was working for their government back then? I have a feeling we have fallen very, VERY far from what the founders envisioned.
Mooooo.....
1) Most in the U.S. are slaves to the government so they pay no taxes.
2) Those who are not slaves pay the most taxes in return for their freedom.
Although I appreciate the POV of the Tax Freedom Day, it isn't based in reality; if it were based in reality, the revolts would have started back around the mid-1950s.