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Tax Freedom Day
Courier editorial
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Tax Freedom Day in Georgia falls on April 8 this year, according to the Tax Foundation. That’s the 98th day of the year and the day when we Georgians will have worked enough to pay our share of federal, state and local taxes for 2010.
We say Georgians because each state has its own Tax Freedom Day based on income along with state and local tax burdens, and Georgia, ranked No. 24, is squarely in the middle in that regard.
Overall, Americans labor 99 days -- until April 9 -- and pay an average of 26.89 percent of their annual incomes to help fund various governments and programs. That’s down a bit from earlier years, but that isn’t because government is spending less or we as a nation owe less. If Americans were required to pay not only for all government spending this year but also the $1.3 trillion deficit, they would be donating all their labor from Jan. 1 until May 17 to the government cause.
Most of us, of course, don’t mind fair taxation. Without tax money, there would be no roads, no law enforcement, no schools and no teachers. In fact, without taxes there would be precious little in the way of government services.
But there’s a breaking point. Government at all levels has grown too big, too intrusive, too ‘big brotherly.” And we seem to have lost a handle on what exactly government should and shouldn’t do, on what is essential to our well being and what is simply government for government’s sake.
After all, these days government not only keeps the peace and educates our children but claims it necessary to find us work, offer us recreation, even provide access to digital television.
It doesn’t come cheap, either.
As the Tax Foundation notes, “Americans will pay more in taxes in 2010 than they will spend on food, clothing and shelter combined.”  Is it just us, or is there something wrong with that picture?
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