Do you realize that up until yesterday, which is the 108th day into 2013, all taxpaying Americans have been working the whole time, every day, for governments at all levels?

Tax Freedom Day is the day that the average American has earned enough money (in theory) to pay off his/her total tax obligations for the year.  Since peoples’ taxes are higher in 2013 compared to last year, Tax Freedom Day — April 18– is five days later than in 2012. And get this: Americans will pay tax revenues this year totaling $4.2 trillion. This tax bill represents 29.4 percent of taxpayers’ total income this year. In 1900, Tax Freedom Day was Jan. 22, and Americans paid 5 percent of their income to taxes.

When we spend more and more time and money feeding insatiable government thirsts, it leaves us less time and money to feed our own needs.

It’s hard to accept that we have all been working for federal and local governments since the Times Square ball dropped on New Year’s Eve. It’s an economic crime that we had to work every day for more than three-and-a-half months, until Thursday, to be able to celebrate freedom from our own tax man. But if we think this is awful, our children and grandchildren will fork over even heavier taxes to pay off the massive debt governments are accumulating.

One reason this “special day” is later this year is because the fiscal cliff deal crafted in January increased federal taxes on payrolls and individual incomes. All told, 13 tax increases kicked in on Jan. 1. Obamacare piled on, with an excise tax and an investment tax that made us work even more days in order to pay our tax bills.

The burgeoning tax burden is like a beast with a hungry maw, causing Tax Freedom Day to march further into the calendar. Congress and the president should be ashamed of themselves for raising taxes yet again this year. We have plenty of revenue flowing into federal coffers.

America’s debt problems and its deficit are caused by too much spending, not too little taxation.

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John R. Smith

John R. Smith is chairman of BIZPAC, the Business Political Action Committee of Palm Beach County, and owner of a financial services company. He is a frequent columnist for BizPac Review.

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