This being April 15th, and being in the United States, I got to thinking about taxes. And then I started thinking about Tax Freedom Day, the day which, on average, a person has earned enough in the current year to pay all of his/her federal, state, and local taxes for the year (and starts working to provide for his own needs).
First of all, April 15th isn’t the day taxes are due in 2017. April 15th being a Saturday, and Monday, April 17th being Emancipation Day (I never even knew there was such a holiday), taxes aren’t due (in the USA) until Tuesday, April 18th, 2017.
Anyway, back to Tax Freedom Day… it turns out that this year Tax Freedom Day in the USA falls on April 24th. I was thinking “Gee, that kinda s**ks!” Then I found out what it is like elsewhere. In the United Kingdom, Tax Freedom Day doesn’t arrive until 13 May. But it could STILL be worse. In Finland, it isn’t until 15 June, and in Sweden it is 30 June. The end of June, which means you work half the year just to pay your taxes. Turns out, in Germany the day doesn’t arrive until 19 July, and in France it is 26 July. And worst of all is Belgium with a date of 3 August! I didn’t check to see if there were any countries even worse off. It would have been too depressing.
I guess 24 April isn’t that bad after all.