Campaign buttons have to be snappy and easily read–so Inkwell’s proposed button, “I’m not rich. But I got a tax cut,” is probably not going to be sprouting on lapels and fenders anytime soon. But last April, I had the distinct feeling that things were not as bad as in Aprils past. I thought the government took far more of my meager income than it deserves, but it felt as if a smaller percentage was being confiscated than in previous years.
An independent tax watchdog group confirms the conclusions I derived from my not having to go to the poor house on April 15. The organization uses the date to analyze the average tax burden on Americans, and then estimates the date of “Tax Freedom Day.” This is the day after which you paid the year’s tax bill, and the money you earn begins to go to you rather than that our rapacious uncle.
Tax Freedom Day came this year on April 11th, the earliest since 1991. The Tax Foundation estimates that this is the earliest Tax Freedom Day in 37 years. The Tax Foundation notes:
“April 11th is three days earlier than 2003’s Tax Freedom Day of April 14 and an amazing 21 days earlier than in 2000, when the boom and bubble pushed tax burdens to a record high, and Tax Freedom Day was postponed until May 2.
“’Federal tax cuts have made the average American tax burden lighter in 2004,” said Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge. “Because the bubble in 1999 and 2000 boosted tax collections to artificially high levels, the drop since then is all the more dramatic. In fact, it is the biggest drop in America’s tax burden for at least a century.”
My Democrat friends (I’m bi-social) tell me I’m not rich enough to have received a tax cut, and that only Halliburton executives got one. I know that they are wrong, but I fear for the future of my tax cut. I may not be rich now, but, if taxes are raised, I predict that I’ll suddenly be rich enough to have my taxes raised.