Seattle - With the year one-third of the way over, Washington residents can finally start using their hard-earned money to pay the bills, clothe their children and buy food. From January 1 through May 3, all of the income earned by Washington citizens is used to pay taxes levied by federal, state and local governments. Starting May 4, the people of Washington can finally start working for themselves.
Tax Freedom Day arrives when Americans have earned enough money to pay their total tax bill for the year. It is a practical way to illustrate how much of what we earn goes towards taxes. Once Tax Freedom Day arrives, the money we make is ours to keep, to be used as we wish, usually in the form of bills, food and clothing.
National Tax Freedom Day falls on April 26, 3 days later than in 2005, with the average American expending 31.6% of his or her income to pay taxes. That means Americans work longer to pay government taxes (116 days) than they do to pay for food, clothing and housing, combined (106 days).
During a normal eight-hour workday, Americans spend one hour and 4 minutes paying for federal taxes and another 51 minutes for state and local taxes. Incomparison, we work 40 minutes to pay for food, an hour and 9 minutes for health and medical care and one hour and 22 minutes to pay for housing and household operations.
Washington State Heavily Taxed
In Washington State, we pay more in taxes than the national average. By this measure, Washington is the 4th highest taxed state in the Union. We work 124 days simply to pay our taxes. The average Washingtonian makes $39,705, but with $13,387 owed in taxes, that amounts to 33.7% of income per capita spent on taxes.
The citizens of Washington spend 84 days paying federal taxes and another 40 days for state and local taxes. $9,053 goes to Uncle Sam, while $4,333 finds its way to Olympia and local governments.
As May 4 approaches, the citizens of Washington will eventually see the fruits of their labors. Not working to fuel government bureaucracy, but to provide for themselves and their families the standard of living for which they have sweated and toiled.
Source: Tax Foundation, taxfoundation.org
Special Report No. 140, www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr140.pdf
