“The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers
It’s that time of year again, and if you haven’t started yet, you better get crackin’, taxes are due on Monday. Normally, this most magical of days would be the 15th but Emancipation Day is on April 16 and is a legal holiday in Washington D.C. Since the 16th is a Saturday, it will be celebrated on Friday, most public employees in D.C. will be off work, thus the extra day (or three).
Every year around this time, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation identifies Tax Freedom Day, the day that the country collectively has earned enough to pay all the federal, state and local taxes for the year. Tax Freedom Day this year falls on April 24. No matter your partisan leanings, it certainly makes for an interesting statistic and something worth considering as politicians make arguments for more or less government spending. The total tax bill for the year will add up to more than $5 trillion. The U.S. is obviously a very large country, third in population, but perhaps few are aware that the taxes paid in the U.S. totals more than every other economy in the world except for China. The U.S. tax total edges out the third largest economy, Japan, by a few hundred mill.
The Tax Foundation also happens to break down Tax Freedom Day by state as well. For Georgia, this year’s day is a little later than usual on April 17. The Tax Foundation gives a report on each state’s tax climate and ranks Georgia 34th for its tax burden of 8.8%. The climate report also includes neighboring states in the region. The last state by state breakdown showed Tennessee on April 6th (ranked 2nd earliest nationally); Alabama, April 8th (ranked 4th earliest nationally); Florida, April 20th (ranked 29th latest nationally); South Carolina, April 11th (ranked 8th earliest nationally); and North Carolina, April 16th (ranked 19th earliest nationally). Other Southern neighbors also ranked very low – Mississippi was the earliest on April 5th and Louisiana was third earliest on April 7.
The Foundation reported Georgia as 36th for its Business Tax Climate Index. The Index looks at five different factors: corporate taxes, individual income taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property. Neighboring states Tennessee was 15th, Alabama, 28th, Florida, 5th, South Carolina, 37th, and North Carolina, 16th.
At the bottom of the list for Tax Freedom Day are a few of the well-known regulars. California is 45th latest (Toyota just moved its U.S. headquarters to Texas), Minnesota is tied for 45th, Massachusetts is 47th (perhaps living up to its long-time dubious nickname – Taxachusetts), New York is 48th, New Jersey 49th and Connecticut (which just lost the headquarters of GE) is 50th.
As the South crafts business friendly tax policy to lure companies, many of which are no doubt expanding and moving southerly, the impact has yet to be felt in the GDP per capita. The first Southern state to make an appearance on the list (besides awash in D.C. metro money Virginia) is Louisiana at 21st with $54,000 per capita.
Georgia makes it somewhere in the middle at 33 with $48,000 per capita.
Read More here: http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/georgia
