Tax Freedom Day sequel: Deficit Day

How's the party going? Wait, aren't you celebrating? You should be. Today is Tax Freedom Day.

Whoa! Déjà vu. Didn't I just write that previous paragraph on April 9, Tax Freedom Day 2010?

Good memory! That was the year's first national Tax Freedom Day. Today we get another piece of cake.

May 17 is the day we've all worked long enough and paid in enough taxes to cover all government spending this year, including the $1.3 trillion federal budget deficit.

Today is the second latest deficit-inclusive Tax Freedom Day since World War II, says The Tax Foundation, which each year calculates the various federal and state tax freedom dates.

Back in 2009 when we were staring at a budget deficit of close to $1.5 trillion, deficit-plus Tax Freedom Day arrived on May 21.

"The importance of the current federal deficit can hardly be overstated," said Foundation economist Kail Padgitt, Ph.D., author of the Tax Freedom Day report. "These huge deficits must translate into higher taxes or inflation soon, and that will drive Tax Freedom Day much later into the year, likely somewhere near where the deficit-inclusive measure is now, in mid-May."

Using current deficit projections from the Congressional Budget Office, the Foundation figured that the average household's share of total spending is $31,737 and the average household's share of total taxes is $18,579.

This creates a per-household deficit of $13,158.

Oh yeah, that really gets us in a Tax Freedom Day party mood.

You can find full details on the national and state data and
implications are in the Tax Freedom Day 2010 special report.