The Tax Foundation likes to present this information a little differently. Every year, it figures out how long that average American has to work just to pay off this tax bill. This year, if the average person sent every penny he or she earned directly to Washington, it would take until April 30 to experience "tax freedom day." That's two days longer than it took last year. And, according to Hodge, it's about 17 days longer than it would take the average American to pay all of his or her yearly housing costs, and 11 days more than it takes to pay for a year's worth of food.

There is some good news in all of this, at least for most of you. The average Utahn this year would have to work only until April 22 to pay his or her total tax bill. Utahns have the 36th highest tax burden in the nation, according to the foundation, which really isn't so bad, relatively speaking. If you lived in Connecticut, you'd be slaving until May 20 to support government.

Of course, taxes pay for many legitimate and important things — things that, if removed, would send a lot of people to the streets in protest. But perhaps not everything governments fund is truly necessary (soccer stadiums, anyone?).

Hodge quotes former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as saying, "Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society." Then he notes that Holmes said this in 1904, when it took the average American only until Jan. 21 to pay his or her tax bills.

Kind of makes you want to drop your returns in the mailbox and look for the nearest voting machine.

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Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret Morning News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com