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Show May 1 Listed Tax Freedom' Day in Utah May'l is a day to mark on your calendar. It's the day in 1984 when you can quit working just to pay the tax collector and start spending your hard-earned dollars on other things. It assumes that every dollar earned prior to May 1 went to pay federal, state, and local taxes. It's called "Tax Freedom Day," reports the Utah Taxpayers Association. UTA says that Tax Freedom Day is computed annually by the Tax Foundation of Washington, D.C. Tax Freedom Day falls on the same date this year as it did in 1983. However, since 1984 is a leap year, taxpayers will actually have to work one extra day 122 days instead of 121 to pay their tax bills. That extra day is needed, not because of federal taxes, but because state and local taxes have increased faster than earnings. Except for the past two years, the date has moved farther into the year, requiring more and more time on the job, just to keep the tax collector happy. In 1981 the date was May 6. The Reagan tax cuts pushed the date back to May 3 in 1982. Tax Freedom Day fell on May 1 in 1983. Stated another way, the average worker in 1984 will spend 2 hours and forty minutes on the job each day just to meet his tax obligations. More of the average American's 8-hour work day is spent earning money for the tax collector than for any other item in the family budget. Shelter takes the next largest slice of the work day at one hour and 34 minutes. Food takes one hour and four minutes; transportation, 42 minutes; medical care, 36 minutes; clothing, 21 minutes; recreation, 20 minutes and all other items combined take 43 minutes of each work day. |