California lags behind much of the country when it comes to high taxes and creating an atmosphere that allows businesses to create jobs, but there’s also another area where the Golden State fails to meet the national standard—National Tax Freedom Day.
For the rest of the nation Tax Freedom Day arrives on April 24. Californians, however, won’t be able to celebrate until nine days later on May 3. Only Connecticut New Jersey and New York have later dates.
Calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day Americans have earned enough money to pay their annual tax obligations at the federal, state and local level.
According to the Tax Foundation, Americans total tax bill comes to $4.8 trillion and will collectively spend more on taxes in 2015 than they will on food, clothing and housing combined. That’s incredible.
It’s clear that California’s byzantine tax structure continues to create a difficult economic environment in which to live and work. Unfortunately, Californians must work 123 days to pay their tax bill.
We can do better.