Working 2+ hours each day to pay taxes

I'm not advocating you become a clock watcher at work, but you might want to take note of 11:13 a.m. today.

If you arrived at your office at 9 a.m., that's the time at which you'll have earned enough to pay today's share of federal, state and local taxes.

Then you get to do it all again tomorrow and Wednesday and … You get the idea.

That tax alarm clock is courtesy of the Tax Foundation, which created the the eight-hour tax bite calculation.

The Washington, D.C.-based tax policy nonprofit says that in 2011, Americans will spend two hours and 13 minutes of every eight-hour workday, or more than a quarter of our working hours (27.7 percent), to pay taxes.

In a 9 a.m to 5 p.m. workday, the "paid" time arrives at the previously noted 11:13 a.m.

But when the money needed to pay the federal deficit is included, the Tax Foundation says we'll have to work until lunch time, or 12:07 p.m. to be exact.

Only after those minutes tick off will our daily earnings be ours to spend as we see fit.

Time worked per type of tax: As expected, individual income taxes require the most work time.

In addition to the federal income tax, there also are the similar income taxes levied by most states and many local governments. The Tax Foundation added them to the computation.

When the accounting is done, all these income taxes are projected to amount to an average of 46 minutes of work in an eight-hour workday.

Social insurance taxes, those levies for social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare, require 29 minutes of a workday.

Sales and excise taxes take another 20 minutes of work.

Property taxes require 16 minutes of work.

Corporate income taxes also take 16 minutes of a workday.

Other taxes account for five minutes of work.

Finally, it takes one minute to cover estate and gift taxes.

Tax workday times vary by state: The Tax Foundation also breaks down the workday tax clock for each state. The different times across the country are based on the states' income levels and varying tax burdens.

This year, Mississippi residents will finish their tax-paying work the earliest, at 10:51 a.m.

Next to pay off their tax bills are workers in Tennessee at 10:53 a.m., South Caro­lina at 10:55 a.m. and Louisiana and South Dakota, both at 10:57 a.m.

Connecticut workers toil the longest each day to pay their taxes. Nutmeg State residents don't clear their daily tax bill amount until 11:40 a.m.

Also taking extra time to meet their daily tax obligations are workers in New Jersey, who pay their tax bills at 11:36 a.m., New York at 11:30 a.m., Maryland at 11:20 a.m. and California and Washington at 11:19 a.m.

If you live elsewhere, check out your state's daily tax bite in the complete Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact on 2011's tax bite in the eight-hour day.

Now I've got to get another cup of coffee and get to work so I can get Uncle Sam off my back!

Related posts:

• Tax Freedom Day 2011: April 12
• Tax Freedom Day sequel: Deficit Day
• Happy Belated Cost of Government Day
• Your 2011 tax burden revised
• How Uncle Sam spends our tax dollars

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