Tax Freedom Day Is April 21 This Year

Tax Freedom Day Is April 21 This Year

Americans on average will work until Monday, April 21, to pay off their total tax burdens this year — three days longer than last year, according to the Tax Foundation.

The foundation each year calculates Tax Freedom Day, when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year.

This year Americans will pay $3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.5 trillion in state taxes, for a total of $4.5 trillion, up from $4.22 trillion last year.

Tax Freedom Day 2014 is 111 days into the year, and "three days later than last year due mainly to the country's continued slow economic recovery, which is expected to boost tax revenues especially from the corporate, payroll, and individual income tax," foundation economists Kyle Pomerleau and Lyman Stone noted.

Americans will spend more on taxes this year than they will spend on food, clothing, and housing combined.

If federal borrowing, representing future taxes owed, is included in the calculation, Tax Freedom Day would not come until May 6 this year — 15 days later.

Not including borrowing, the latest calendar date of Tax Freedom Day was May 1, 2000. A century earlier, in 1900, it fell on Jan. 22. With borrowing included, the latest day was May 21, 1945, during World War II.

This year Americans will work 33 days to pay federal income tax; 27 days to pay Social Insurance taxes — which includes Social Security; 13 days for sales and excise taxes; 11 days for property taxes; and nine days for state and local income taxes. Also included are federal excise taxes, federal corporate income taxes, state and local corporate income taxes, and several other outlays.

This year's April 21 date is an average — individual states have their own Tax Freedom Day. Higher-income and higher-tax states mark Tax Freedom Day later, while lower-income and lower-tax states mark it earlier.

The latest state Tax Freedom Days in 2014 will be May 9 in Connecticut and New Jersey, May 4 in New York, and April 30 in California.

The earliest days this year came on March 30 in Louisiana, April 2 in Mississippi, and April 4 in South Dakota.

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