Happy “Cost of Government Day”

July 16th, 2008 by Matt Hawes

This year, the Cost of Government Day falls on July 16th. Americans for Tax Reform defines COGD as “the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government on the federal, state and local levels.”

They estimate that the cost of government now consumes 53.9% of national income, with the average American worker spending 83.7 days laboring to pay his “share” of federal spending. The average worker spends 50.5 days for state and local spending. Keep in mind that this is just spending, not regulation, which takes its own toll from you. Regulation requires 62.6 days, and
“is estimated to cost 17.2 percent of national income.”

This is the Cost Day for the country as a whole. The date for each state varies.

You can draw your own conclusions on some of ATR’s analysis, but the figures are fascinating. Check out their report here. This would be great information to forward, as many people don’t truly understand what kind of a mess our government is in until they see cold, hard statistics, charts, and graphs.