According to the Washington-based
Tax
Foundation, the Massachusetts 2007 per capita tax burden is
still the 4th highest in the country, 22.5% above the national
average.
If the burden is divided, for comparison, among every man, woman
and child in the commonwealth, each of us pays $5,419. The
national average is $4,422.
Only Connecticut, New Jersey and New York have higher per capita
tax burdens.
Tax Freedom Day Arrives Two Days Later for
Massachusetts This Year
The Tax Foundation is noted for its
annual report on Tax Freedom Day for the United States and
each individual state. According to its recent news
release, "The report compares the number of days Americans work
to pay taxes to the number of days they work to support
themselves."
For the U.S., in which Tax Freedom Day is April 30, two days
later than in 2006, taxpayers work 120 days for the government.
Says the Tax Foundation, "This makes taxation a bigger financial
burden than housing and household operation (62 days), health
and medical care (52 days), food (30 days), transportation (30
days), recreation (22 days), or clothing and accessories (13
days)."
In Massachusetts, we work even longer for the government, until
May 6, also two days later than in 2006. Rated 9th, we
work longer for the government than people in 41 other states.
The moral of the story is that Massachusetts is not suffering
from a lack of taxes, and does not need either corporate
loophole closing or local taxes on meals or anything else.
In fact, our taxes should be cut, starting with the income tax
rate rollback to 5% and the property tax cut that Deval Patrick
promised when he was running for governor.