Robin SmithNo other measure demonstrates the burden of taxes on working men and women more than Tax Freedom Day, the day that workers stop funding government out of their paychecks.
Each Tennessee worker spent every day of 2015 working to pay "their share" of federal, state and local taxes until April 9. Ninety-nine days of wages of every Tennessean have been taken to fund the expenses of government, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.
In Tennessee, our Tax Freedom Day ranks fourth in the nation, meaning the 99 days Tennesseans spend funding government out of their pockets is a bargain compared to the other states in America.
The national Tax Freedom Day, factoring in all of the spending of local, state and federal governments, is April 24. Fully 114 days, just a few days shy of four full months, of the wages earned by Americans are allocated to government expenditures.
I hope readers are shaking their heads in disgust at the thought of those who work, produce, innovate and strive, carrying the weight of every form of government in this nation. According to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the single largest revenue source of our federal government is the taxpayer, who sent a collective $1.4 trillion to Washington's Beltway in 2014.
Tennesseans pay federal individual income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, business taxes, death taxes, and the list goes on. In America, estimates range between 49 percent and 51 percent of American workers who actually pay federal income tax.
If, instead of automatic withholding, each individual was required to submit to the various local, state and federal treasuries their "share" of taxes on a quarterly basis, there would be a revolt in our nation against the ongoing growth of government spending. A check written by the same hand that works the assembly line for eight hours, that masters the computer keyboard for a shift, or that teaches our children in the classroom for the day would have a greater impact on the awareness of how much government is really costing us.
Tax policy is never an issue that garners much broad-based attention. Politicians like to avoid the issue because they don't want to explain how they will pay for the promises and pledges they make to garner votes. All government funding comes through the process of redistribution -- taking from those who risk capital, own property, invest, create jobs and work at an honest day's job -- to fund services provided by the government.
There is always a call for a new program here and more spending there. The ease with which those proposals are propagated are like dandelions in the spring; they pop up everywhere. Paying for programs is never the focus, only the benefit to a party, a victim or a stakeholder.
While there are plenty of advocates for special interests and government spending, who fights for the working man and woman of Tennessee to protect their paycheck?
Tax Freedom Day, unlike any other day on the calendar, renews the call for Tennessee government to continue its stewardship of our earnings by balancing a budget each year and demonstrates why the U.S. federal government is failing on a monumental level.
Politicians, the money you spend was earned by someone else. Remember that.
Robin Smith is a past chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party and owner of Rivers Edge Alliance.