TAX FREEDOM DAY TAKES LONGER TO
ARRIVE IN NJ New Jersey is one of the five
states with the heaviest tax burden, and will wait the
longest for Tax Freedom Day – April 19. This is far better
than the year 2000 when we had to wait until May 12! Perhaps
President Bush’s tax rebate had something to do with the
unprecedented early Tax Freedom Date. However, Governor
McGreevey’s current budget has grown by 10 percent from the
prior year to $26 billion. Even more concerning is that the
budget creates $4 million in deficit bond spending for
operating expenses. This is tantamount to mortgaging your
house to pay for groceries. What this means to the taxpayer
is 20 years from now, long after Governor McGreevey has
finished his term, those bonds will have to be paid using
that years budget. Don’t forget in 1975 when then-Mayor of
New York City Abe Beame had Do you often wonder how long you
work every year just to pay your taxes? According to the Tax
Foundation you can celebrate on April 19. And, that is the
earliest Tax Freedom Day in 37 years.
Tax Freedom Day is the day when Americans will finally
have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for
the year. Every dollar that is considered income by the
government is counted and every payment to the government
that is officially considered a tax is counted. All levels
of government are included, whether it be federal, state or
municipal.
In 2004, Americans will work 65 days to afford their
federal taxes an 36 more day to afford state and local
taxes. Income taxes are the tax that we work the longest for
– 36 days, with 28 of those for federal and 8 more for state
taxes. Social insurance taxes are directly deducted, but
require 28 day worth of work to pay for. Sales and excise
taxes require 16 days of work, property taxes require 11
days and business taxes 9 days. sold almost $700 million in
bonds over the years to pay for operating expenses. New York
City was nearly bankrupt, 65,000 workers were laid off, and
emergency services had to be cut. Finally it took a bailout
from the federal government to correct the problems. How
long will we have to wait for tax Freedom Day then? For more
information on Tax Freedom Day, contact
www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.html. |
