Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization financed partly by corporations, the average person devotes two hours and 46 minutes of every eight-hour work day to earn enough to pay taxes.
If that person starts work at 9 a.m., he or she would have earned enough to pay federal taxes at 10:49 a.m. and state and local taxes by 11:46 a.m.
``We find the burden of government is very high,'' said J.D. Foster, executive director of the foundation.
Patrick Fleenor, the foundation's economist, said that taxes consume 34.4 percent of the typical person's gross income - 22.6 percent for federal taxes and 11.8 percent for state and local. That's a higher proportion of gross income than a typical American spends on food, clothing and shelter combined.
Looked at another way, the average taxpayer this year must work 126 days to pay taxes, putting Tax Freedom Day - as the foundation calls it - on May 6, tied with last year for the latest ever.
The Tax Foundation, like many groups, uses Monday's IRS filing deadline - when Americans' minds are on taxes - to focus attention on its own views.
Republican presidential hopeful Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania senator, used Monday's income tax filing deadline to launch radio spots in Iowa and New Hampshire pushing his flat tax proposal.
The Tax Foundation's report, an annual tradition, is challenged by such groups as Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-financed research organization, which points to the value received for tax dollars.
``The implication that somehow this money goes to Washington and disappears just isn't true,'' said Robert McIntyre, the group's director. ``It shows up in roads. It shows up in a cleaner environment. It shows up in national defense, which I presume most of us want. It shows up in taking care of poor people. Every nickel that goes in comes back in some way or another.''
McIntyre also said the foundation's use of statistics can be misleading. The U.S. tax system is progressive, meaning that wealthy people pay a much bigger proportion of their income than others on federal taxes. So any average is skewed, McIntyre said. He said a typical, or median, taxpayer actually pays less taxes than the Foundation asserts.
Tax Freedom Day occurs later in some states, earlier in others. Connecticut and New York residents have it the worst - May 24, or three hours and nine minutes out of an eight-hour day.
Alaska has the lightest tax burden: two hours and 17 minutes each day, and a Tax Freedom Day of April 14. The next lightest burden is in Mississippi - two hours and 21 minutes; April 17.
Virginia's tax burden is 2 hours and 36 minutes each day, with a Tax Freedom Day of April 29, ranking it 35th among the states.
by CNB