The Cost of Government
This past Thursday was "Cost of Government Day." Each year, the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation and the Center for Fiscal Accountability calculate the day on which the average American has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government at the federal, state and local levels.
This year, working people will have to toil for 231 days just to meet all the costs imposed by government - eight days later than last year and a full 32 days longer than 2008. If we actually paid for all the things government will spend money on this year, Americans would only be able to keep what they earn between now and December 31. Every cent earned before last Thursday would have gone to taxes.
"Cost of Government Day" is just an abstract of how large our government has gotten and how much money it spends. But the fact that the largest economy in the world has to work almost two-thirds of the year just to earn as much money as the government spends is appalling.
We must rein in spending immediately. Projections have us running near or above $1 trillion deficits every year for the next decade at current spending levels. That is on top of the $13.3 trillion we already owe. With numbers like that, the true cost of government will be left to our children and grandchildren, who may never be able to work their way out of that debt.
Sincerely,
