April 18th is National Tax Freedom Day, the point at which Americans will have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the local, state, and federal levels. Elizabeth Malm is an economist with the Washington-based Tax Foundation. She says Americans this year will work five days later than in 2012 to pay all their taxes.
"That's for a couple of reasons. The first is the fiscal cliff deal reached this year and that raised federal income and payroll taxes, and those make up the biggest portion of what we calculate," explains Malm. "Then there was also the Affordable Care Act that has an investment tax that went into effect this year. Finally, we have a recovering economy this year, and so as incomes and profits rise, that means more taxes go toward federal income taxes."
Tax Freedom Day arrived in Kentucky on April 6th, earlier than the national average because the commonwealth has lower per capita income and a lower state and local tax burden than the rest of the country.
