Mary Richards
April 9, 2010
As most of the nation celebrates Tax Freedom Day Friday, Utahns will have to wait until Sunday to finally call their money their own.
Nationally almost 27 percent of income goes to taxes, and April 9 is 27 percent into the calendar year. That means up until Friday everything you earn is going right to the government.
“Government and the spending lobby are in love with your taxes. They want to take your money out of your pocket because they think they know better than you do about how to spend that money,” says Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association.
Van Tassell says Sunday is Tax Freedom Day for Utahns because we pay a higher percentage of our income in taxes and fees.
“Whether you are talking about the state or local governments, there is a crying need for lower taxes, lower spending,” he says. “We need to reduce spending, reduce taxes, so that we can keep those dollars where they belong — in taxpayers’ pockets.”
The Tax Foundation of Washington, D.C., calculated the numbers. It says with the exception of 2009 when Tax Freedom Day fell on April 8, this is the earliest it has fallen since 1965.
The recession has reduced tax collections and Congress has passed some temporary tax cuts. But the foundation says Americans will still pay more taxes in 2010 than they will spend on food, clothing and shelter combined.