Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year, when people in the country have finally earned enough income to pay for just their contribution of taxes. Remember taxation is involuntary and enforced with civil and criminal prosecution - so the average person just has to do as they're told and hand over the money over (under threat).
After all taxes are essential! Maybe less is going towards the healthcare system, already poor council services and education - including cutbacks for nurses, police officers and teachers BUT it appears that it is necessary to still fund illegal Wars, private corporation bailouts, Royal weddings and refurbs to Downing Street (that's right £680,000 of taxpayer money this year is being spent by the PM. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk)
Didn't you know - the austerity cuts only apply to you the taxpayer!? How ironic!
So when is Tax Freedom Day? 30th May 2011 (for Brits)
United Kingdom
Britons will stop working for the government and start working for themselves on 30th May 2011.
That means they will work for 149 days to pay their taxes in 2011 wit every penny earned taken by the taxman to support government expenditure (see above).
Apparently this is 3 days more than in 2010 due to the fact the government has raised VAT, in an attempt to help reduce the UK’s record budget deficit.
“The government is right to give priority to cutting spending and plugging the deficit. But as Tax Freedom Day shows, Britons are still desperately overtaxed. The fact that we spend almost five months working for the State – and only seven months working for ourselves and our families – is a shocking indictment of big, wasteful government.” - Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute
Find out more about how taxes work and how you can avoid working 5 months for the Government.
Every man has the right to manage his affairs in order to minimise and avoid tax, it is his duty to do so.
Note: Tax avoidance is legal, whereas tax evasion is illegal.
"Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes." - Judge Learned Hand
At least Tax Freedom Day falls on a Bank Holiday, so enjoy it with a drink in your and know that the rest of the Year belongs to YOU! (Just don't wonder what the tax duty paid on the alcohol is funding)
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United States of America
In the USA Tax Freedom Day for the country was 12th April 2011.
Tax Freedom Day varies among the 50 U.S. states, as incomes and state & local taxes differ from state to state so much that Mississippi was the first to celebrate its Tax Freedom Day on 26th March, just 85 days into 2011. Connecticut was the last, having to waiting till 2nd May, 122 days into 2011.
The Tax Foundation says this shift toward a lower tax burden since 2007 has been driven by three factors:
The recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income.
The Bush-era tax cuts were extended in December 2010 for two additional years.
As part of the tax-cuts extension, the Making Work Pay tax credit was replaced with the 2 percent reduction in the payroll tax.
But even with today's tax reductions, the Tax Foundation says Americans will pay more in taxes in 2011 than they will spend on groceries, clothing and shelter combined.
"America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation." - Laurence J. Peter
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Worldwide Tax Comparison
Many other organizations in countries throughout the world now produce their own "Tax Freedom Day" analysis. Due to the different ways that nations collect and categorize public finance data, however, Tax Freedom Days are not comparable from one country to another.
Tax Freedom Days for countries by date
| Country | Day of year | % burden | Date of year |
| India | 74 | 20.0% | 14 Mar |
| United States | 99 | 26.9% | 9 Apr |
| Australia | 112 | 30.7% | 22 Apr |
| Estonia | 114 | 31.1% | 24 Apr |
| South Africa | 132 | 36.0% | 12 May |
| Uruguay | 133 | 38.6% | 13 May |
| Hungary | 140 | 38.0% | 20 May |
| New Zealand | 141 | 39.0% | 21 May |
| Spain | 141 | 39.0% | 21 May |
| Slovakia | 142 | 38.8% | 22 May |
| Lithuania | 124 | 34.0% | 5 May |
| Bulgaria | 147 | 40.0% | 27 May |
| Brazil | 147 | 40.0% | 27 May |
| United Kingdom | 150 | 40.9% | 30 May |
| Canada | 157 | 42.6% | 6 Jun |
| Belgium | 159 | 43.3% | 8 Jun |
| Croatia | 161 | 43.7% | 10 Jun |
| Czech Republic | 161 | 44.1% | 11 Jun |
| Israel | 173 | 47.4% | 22 Jun |
| Poland | 174 | 47.7% | 23 Jun |
| Slovenia | 174 | 47.8% | 24 Jun |
| Germany | 190 | 51.7% | 8 Jul |
| France | 197 | 53.6% | 16 Jul |
| Sweden | 200 | 55.0% | 20 Jul |
| Norway | 210 | 56.7% | 29 Jul |
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day for full details
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