Tax Freedom Day

Yesterday was Tax Freedom Day for the nation! (The day in which you have finally earned enough to pay the government (federal, state, local) all the money it will grab from you this year)

I did some research on the relative taxes in VT, NH, and NY. Common sense tells me that Vermont taxes are lower than New York taxes but higher than New Hampshire taxes. But, according to CNN, Vermont ranks as #1 in the nation with the highest tax rate of 14.1% of your income going to state and local governments! New York ranks 3rd at 13.8%, and New Hampshire ranks 49th at 8%.

Wait, how can that be?

NY carries higher sales tax burdens (avg of 8.25%), and higher gas taxes (40.9 cents/gallon) than VT does (6% and 20 cents/gallon). So what gives? VT does have a higher maximum percentage income tax (9.5%) but it doesn't kick in until nearly $350,000. Meanwhile, NY's maximum income tax percentage (6.85%) kicks in at $20,000 while Vermonters are only paying 3.6% on up to 31 grand. (figures from Retirement Living) The only thing I could figure out was that VT's average property tax rate is $16.35 on $1,000 worth of property while NY's average is only $11.38. (NH has NO payroll tax, NO sales tax, gas tax of 19.6 cents/gallon, and its 5th in the nation property tax rate still beats Vermont's by 2 cents/$1000)

Well, CNN was using a percentage rate not amount paid. Since I was reasonably sure NY's average income was higher than VT's, I decided to check average AMOUNT paid. Sure enough, NY came in ahead of VT this time with an average per capita taxes paid amount of $6,500, good enough for second place. VT was fifth with an average per capita amount of $5,400. Using this measure, NH wound up 39th with $3,500. While this put NY ahead of VT, I was still stunned at how high VT ranked. My I-like-NH-because-it-has-low-taxes feeling was given a whopping boost.

But wait! Seems our friends at CNN didn't count ALL taxes. For one, I believe they left out business taxes that get passed on to consumers. They may have missed some others as well. In any case, a quick check over at the Tax Foundation website revealed that NY ranks number 3 in the nation for total taxes collected per capita, with Tax Freedom Day falling on -yikes! - May 3.

Ok, about the same as before. What about VT and NH?
Well, well, well! VT's Tax Freedom Day of April 19th gives it a ranking of 24, comfortably removed from NY and landing it in the middle of the pack. New Hampshire gave up some ground under this ranking but still ended up a respectable 35th with a Tax Freedom Day of April 15.

Incidentally, Tax Freedom Day fell on January 22 in 1900, and fell on the 19th day of the year 6 times during the first 15 years of the twentieth century! Taxes were just 5-7 percent of total income. WWI shot taxes to 14.5% in 1921 to pay off the war and reconstruction efforts. Taxes dropped back for a while until the Great Depression-FDR-WWII disaster caused them to skyrocket from 10.7% in 1929 to 24.2% in 1945 (spiking to 25.7% in '43).

This means the increase from 24.2% in '45 to 30.8% projected for '08 could almost be explained away as inflationary adjustments (though it did spike to 33.6% in 2000 (thanks Clinton)). And it doesn't take into account the tremendous budget deficits our wise and thoughtful leaders have built up. But still. On a percentage basis, nearly half of what you pay in taxes this year came from increases seen in a mere 14 years. Thanks, FDR. A lot.

Songs you just can't turn off Volume 3

no, no, no, I did not have love on the mind today... What made you think that?!?!

I'd never thought I'd hear this driving my car...

*Heard today somewhere in western NY, from a cute girl driving a late model chevy*


"HEY HOT STUFF!"








Yeah, you probably don't care. But it made my day anyways.

Should I cry or just scream?

I drove to Rochester tonight to pick up a stranded friend at the airport. My 4 wheeled heap decided to quit telling me how fast I was going. A few miles later the check engine light came on for the first time since I've had the car. This on top of the terrible milage its been getting since last fall. And the dragging brake caliper I just replaced for the second time in as many years. And the two hundred thousand pennies I poured into it last year. And the stripped holes that are supposed to hold the bolts that hold on the exhaust manifold. And the air filter that has holes in it. And the rust showing thru my patch job once again. Then the check engine light went out. Then the speedo started working again. Great! now I'm back up to jalopy status from heap status. And there won't be any way to find a single thing wrong despite the fact I know these problems will recur in the near future.... now why was it I like cars again?

In other news...

I decided I am never eating pork again. After months of admonitions by my roommate that pork is bad for you, I decided to do some research on my own. Turns out God forbid pork for a good reason. Pigs have a high tolerance for toxins (they can even survive rattlesnake bites without much trouble!) and don't have an effective way to get rid of them. Because of this, pork can contain up to 30 times more toxins than beef and other meats. Not to mention pigs are much more likely to get parasitic infections than other animals and these infections can be spread to humans even if the meat is cooked... and I liked bacon too...

warm weather!

It feels like summertime out and I am loving it :) I rode my bike today for the first time since last fall... absolutely beautiful day for it, not too hot and not too cold. Plus it saves on gas besides ($3.47 in Belfast! even $3.37 in Fillmore isn't so hot).

Break

Well here's a list of things I was doing since the time I last posted:

-Went to Easter service at my home church
-Helped my dad tap in the sugarbush
-Went skiing at my all time favorite mountain (bright sun, high 20's, well packed trails with no ice... skiing heaven! )
-Did my federal taxes
-Went to NH to visit my friend Derek (gas was $3.049!)
-Did my state taxes
-Went to a concert where I was promptly hit on by a 16 y/o! (first time I ever ran away from a girl!)
-Came back to NY where I discovered it is suddenly spring (I left 4+ feet of snow on the ground at home!)