It’s time to celebrate.
That’s because we have reached Tax Freedom Day, meaning that – in the aggregate – we have finally earned enough money to pay for all the federal, state, and local taxes that will be imposed on us this year by our political masters.
But we’re not collectivists, so aggregate measures don’t really matter. Our individual tax burdens can vary considerably depending on the level and composition of our income, as well as the state in which we live.
Speaking of that, the good folks of North Dakota are the only ones actually celebrating Tax Freedom Day on this exact date. If you look at the map, Tax Freedom Day is as early as late March for residents of Louisiana and Mississippi, and as late as May for the unfortunate residents of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
You’ll notice, by the way, that Tax Freedom Day is correlated with average state income. That’s one of the reasons why low-income states tend to get better scores. Simply stated, it’s hard to collect a lot of revenue from people who don’t have much money.
And a state that historically has been wealthy, like Connecticut, will probably collect a lot of revenue even if it has a good tax system (though, for the record, Connecticut has veered dramatically in the wrong direction in the past couple of decades).
So if you want to measure whether a state has a good or bad tax system, I recommend the “fiscal” and “tax burden” categories in the “Freedom Index” from the Mercatus Center. Using that measure, South Dakota gets the best score (compared to the 6th-best score using Tax Freedom Day).
P.S. If you like maps, here are some interesting ones, starting with some international comparisons.
- Which nations have the most red ink.
- Which nations are money laundering centers (hint, not tax havens).
- A crazy left-wing “Happy Planet” map.
- Another silly map supposedly showing that America is one of the world’s most authoritarian nations.
Here are some good state maps with useful information.
- Which states have no income taxes.
- Which states give the highest welfare payments.
- Which states are in a “death spiral” because of too many takers and too few makers.
- Which states have too many school bureaucrats compared to teachers.
There’s even a local map.
- How many of the nation’s richest counties are in the D.C. metro region.
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[…] Illinois is in 48th place, which is not surprising since the state is infamous for tax-and-spend fiscal policy. Massachusetts is number 47, making it the fourth-worst state…just as it is the fourth-worst state in the Tax Freedom Day rankings. […]
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Reblogged this on Freedom Is Just Another Word….
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Just as the name implies, these ugg boots are from Australia,
that happen to be crafted from twin-tier merino wool.
And recollection, they may eventually be willful Worn tedium without situation, so that this graduate can do their job.
So you will find that shoes, clothes, even bags for kids has
be exquisite than before.
[…] It’s Tax Freedom Day, So Congratulations (if You Don’t Live in New York, California, New Jersey,… […]
🙂 That is the optimistic way to look at it. What about the reciprocal “Tax Slavery Day” approaching?
If April 18 is tax freedom day, then the reciprocal, Sep 15 must be tax slavery day. That is, once past Sep 15 then every dollar earned until after Christmas will be taken away from individuals and their families and given to distant others and to provide (mostly government competence diluted) services that anyone is entitled to anyway, regardless of how much they work or not, pay taxes or not
So cheer up! Only 150 days left until Sep 15 2013, tax slavery day.
Anecdotally, per Wikipedia’s “Tax Freedom Day” article, tax freedom day in France is July 16, two days after Bastille day! That also makes their reciprocal, tax slavery day, June 18, which comes before their tax freedom day. So already (self)enslaved by the time they are set free ?! 🙂