What that means is that if, starting January 1st, the average American had decided to devote all of his or her income to paying his or her federal, state and local taxes for the year until they were paid off, in 1997 it would have taken from January 1st until May 9th to finish paying all those tax bills. Tax Freedom Day has to be recalculated every year because the tax burden changes. Well, Cost of Government Day adds the costs of regulations. In other words, Cost of Government Day is the date each year on which the average American has earned enough in cumulative gross income to pay for his or her share of government spending at all levels of government PLUS the cost of regulation. As always, Independence Day is on the 4th of July.
Government services are often useful and sometimes necessary.
The same goes for many regulations. But government services and government regulations impose heavy burdens. Much of the time they simply aren't worth the cost. We should remember that whenever we are tempted to think up new things for the government to do. Q. Congress is working on the first major federal tax cuts in 16 years.