The cost of tax freedom

For years now (61 of them, to be exact), people concerned with the nation's tax burden have calculated when "Tax Freedom Day," or the day you would have paid all your obligations to Uncle Sam and your state and local government if you spent all your earnings on taxes from Jan. 1, would fall. It's a rather cute but effective way to keep track of how much we pay toward government, developed by a Florida businessman in 1948 and carried on today by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group.

For the nation as a whole, Tax Freedom Day 2009 is April 13. You might be surprised to learn this is much earlier than last year's April 28, and the earliest since 1967. But what the real meaning of this annual report can be understood only if you step away from the bumper-sticker headlines it generates and analyze the data and the trends.

For Utah, the news isn't good. In fact, for the nation as a whole, it is sobering — and the prospects for the future are alarming.

Utah's freedom day also is April 13, but this is the 13th latest of the 50 states. The state's tax burden — a calculation of all income in the state divided by all taxes and levies at all government levels — is the highest among the Rocky Mountain states. Only Washington and California have higher burdens in the West. The good news is Utah's freedom day is eight days earlier than last year. But the bad news is the state climbed four spaces in total tax burden.

Even the national figures aren't as good as they seem. Tax Freedom Day doesn't take into account Washington's deficit spending, although this is a real cost borne by taxpayers one way or another. Take that into account and Tax Freedom Day would be May 29. Judging by President Barack Obama's budget recommendation, that date isn't about to get earlier any time soon.

The Tax Foundation issues a Freedom Day calculation for each year back to 1900, when it fell on Jan. 22. If this list proves anything, it is that temporary, emergency tax measures are anything but. Freedom day jumped to February during World War I, but it never again fell back to January. It leapt into March during the Depression and shot into April during World War II and the Korean conflict, never to return again. Since then, it peaked on May 3 in 2000 but was pushed back again by tax cuts. The clear trend is a steady two-steps-forward-one-step-back progression.

Government apologists will say the real measure isn't what you pay but what you get for your taxes. In Utah, people often will point out that the state's large numbers of school-age children necessitate high taxes for public education.

Both are valid points, but they suggest the need for even greater scrutiny. Not all Utah taxes go for schools, and perhaps not every tax-supported program is worthwhile. The foundation figures 28.2 percent of the nation's income goes to the government. That isn't just a cute calculation. It limits freedom in real ways.