NO TAX FREEDOM IMMINENT FOR NJ
Tax Freedom Day has already passed for most Americans – but not yet for overtaxed New Jerseyans.
For most taxpayers, it is past the date in which if all their wages earned this year went to local, state and federal governments, they would be off the hook for the rest of the year.
New Jerseyans, however, have to keep working until the end of the month to settle up with Uncle Sam and New Jersey’s own bearded tax man, Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
Tax Freedom Day, calculated by the federal nonprofit Tax Foundation to illustrate the cost burden of government to individuals, occurred April 13 this year. Artificially, because of the recession and federal stimulus plan, it is the earliest Freedom Day since 1967.
Those factors bumped up New Jersey’s date from May 8 to April 29, but it continues to lag behind the rest of the country – preceding only Connecticut by one day.
Considering the illusionary effect of the federal stimulus plan on Tax Freedom Day, next year’s will likely be pushed back to May, if not June.
In his Special Report on Tax Freedom Day, Josh Barro, a Tax Foundation staff economist, wrote:
In 2009, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
While tax revenues are falling, government expenditures are expected to explode in 2009, also driven in significant part by (federal stimulus funding). Tax Freedom Day, like almost all tax burden measures, ignores the current year’s deficits. If the projected deficit for 2009 were counted as a tax, Tax Freedom Day would arrive on May 29 instead of April 13 – the latest date ever for this deficit-inclusive measure.
But given the bevy of property, business and income tax increases related to Corzine’s proposed budget, New Jerseyans might have to wait until July next year.
States with the earliest Tax Freedom Day:
Alaska……....….....March 23
Louisiana…….......March 28
Mississippi……......March 28
South Dakota…...March 29
North Dakota…....April 1
West Virginia…....April 1
States with the latest Tax Freedom Day:
Connecticut…..April 30
New Jersey…...April 29
New York……...April 25
California…..….April 20
Maryland…......April 19
New Jersey Tax Freedom Days compared with United States average
2009…..April 29…..April 13
2008…..May 8….….April 21
2007…..May 11…...April 27
2006…..May 10…...April 26
2005…..May 8……..April 24
Source: Tax Foundation