Today is tax day in the U.S. Show your postmark, or file an extension. Meanwhile, be thankful that the IRS has extended the filing deadline to April 17, or two days beyond the traditional April 15, courtesy of the 15th falling on a Saturday this year.
The tax man may be willing to wait an extra 48 hours for his money this year, but rest assured he’ll settle for nothing less than the usual take in the end. Unfortunately for taxpayers, the usual take is on the rise again, based on the Tax Foundation’s newest calculation of “Tax Freedom Day.” This is the day that the average American taxpayer has earned enough to pay for his taxes, based on a measure of national, state and local taxes. For example, if tax freedom day is April 1, wages for the first three months of the year go to pay the various levies imposed by governments for the year.
In 2006, Fax Freedom Day comes on April 26, according to this year’s Tax Foundation study. “Tax freedom will come three days later in 2006 than it did in 2005,” Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge advises in a press release, “and fully 10 days later than in 2003 and 2004 when a combination of slow income growth and tax cuts caused Tax Freedom Day to arrive comparatively early, on April 16.”
Source: Tax Foundation