It’s April 16th, and yesterday Americans’ income taxes were due to the IRS. Coincidentally, today is Tax Freedom Day, and until today, the average American has been working to pay off his taxes for 2019. According to the Tax Foundation, “Tax Freedom Day® is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year.”
The Tax Foundation breaks down exactly how much time Americans spent paying off the different types of taxes in 2019, writing “This year, Americans will work the longest to pay federal, state, and local individual income taxes (42 days). Payroll taxes will take 26 days to pay, followed by sales and excise taxes (15 days), corporate income taxes (5 days), and property taxes (11 days). The remaining six days are spent paying estate and inheritance taxes, customs duties, and other taxes.”
Erica York of the Tax Foundation wrote:
- Tax Freedom Day is a significant date for taxpayers and lawmakers because it represents how long Americans as a whole have to work in order to pay the nation’s tax burden.
- This year, Tax Freedom Day falls on April 16, or 105 days into the year.
- In 2019, Americans will pay $3.4 trillion in federal taxes and $1.8 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total bill of over $5.2 trillion, or 29 percent of the nation’s income.
- Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2019 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined.
- If you include annual federal borrowing, which represents future taxes owed, Tax Freedom Day would occur 22 days later, on May 8.
Read more from York and the Tax Foundation here.
