April 18 is National Tax Freedom Day, the point at which Americans will have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the local, state and federal levels. Elizabeth Malm is an economist with the Washington-based Tax Foundation. She said Americans this year will work five days later than in 2012 to pay all their taxes.
“And that’s for a couple reasons. The first is there was the fiscal cliff deal that happened this year and that raised federal income and payroll taxes and those make up the biggest portion of our number that we calculate,” Malm said. “And then there was also the Affordable Care Act, which the investment tax went into effect this year.
“And then we’ve also got a recovering economy this year, and so as income and profits rise that means that more taxes go to special income taxes.”
Tax Freedom Day arrived in Kentucky on April 6, earlier than the national average because the commonwealth has lower per capita income and a lower state and local tax burden than the rest of the country.
