Tax Freedom Days.

• Position: Statestats

The Tax Foundation annually calculates each state's Tax Freedom Day--the symbolic day when workers stop working to pay taxes and start working to earn money for themselves. The analysis includes all federal, state and local taxes.

As a whole, the United States "celebrated" Tax Freedom Day on April 27, two days earlier than last year. This means that Americans worked--on average--117 days to pay government taxes. The recently enacted federal tax cuts and economic slowdown have resulted in a slightly lighter tax burden, according to the Tax Foundation.

Taxpayers worked 80 days to pay federal taxes and 37 days to pay state and local taxes. They spent more time working to pay federal individual income taxes than to pay all state and local taxes combined.

Tax Freedom Days by state range from April 8 in Alaska to May 14 in Connecticut. Or, put differently, taxpayers in Connecticut worked 134 days to pay taxes while those in Alaska worked only 98 days.

Connecticut's tax burden is the heaviest because the state has the highest per capita income in the nation. Alaska's low tax burden can be explained by the Tax Foundation's adjustment of revenue collected from out-of-state residents.

Since Alaska relies heavily on severance tax revenue from oil companies, most of its tax burden is exported to purchasers across the country. Wyoming exports its severance tax burden, but a small portion of its population pays high federal taxes as a result of very large incomes. The foundation also adjusts for taxes on tourism and corporate income.

Although Tax Freedom Days are based on federal, state and local taxes combined, the Tax Foundation also excludes federal taxes to compare state and local tax burdens and the days spent working to pay them. The U.S. average is 37 days, with the, highest being Maine (46 days) and the lowest Alaska (23 days).

Additional information is available online at www.taxfoundation.org.

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