The idea is based on the concept of "Tax Freedom Day." The various governments under which we live (Federal, State, City) take a certain percentage of your income away in taxes. This could be interpreted as working a certain number of days for the government before you earn your own money. Tax Freedom Day is the day on which you complete paying for your taxes, and is a measure of how large the tax burden is - the later in the year, the higher your tax burden.
As with any of these things, there are complications if you look too closely. For example, it really depends on what State or Province you live in. In the U.S., Connecticut has the highest burden this year. In addition, because of differences in what is meant by "tax," and whether State and Local taxes are included, different people quote different dates.
I have used the date given for 2003 by the Tax Foundation.
For the first 74 days of 2003 we worked for the Federal Government, and Federal Tax Freedom Day was March 16, 2003. For the following 35 days, we worked for State Governments, and the 2003 Tax Freedom Day will be April 19, 2003.
So...
I took the Federal Budget, sorted it from largest to smallest Department/Agency/Branch, and calculated the date of payment for each of these items. I used to do this at the program-by-program level within each item (giving time to the second), but I can't find the budget in that format anymore.
| Social Security Administration | 1/12/03 8:56 PM |
| Health and Human Services | 1/24/03 10:02 AM |
| Treasury | 2/2/03 8:31 AM |
| Medicare | 2/10/03 3:00 AM |
| Department of Defense | 2/18/03 10:41 AM |
| Interest on the Debt | 2/24/03 6:33 AM |
| Medicaid/SHCIP | 3/1/03 10:03 AM |
| Department of Agriculture | 3/3/03 3:20 AM |
| Department of Labor | 3/4/03 5:05 PM |
| Department of Transportation | 3/6/03 3:56 AM |
| Department of Education | 3/7/03 12:12 PM |
| Office of Personnel Management | 3/8/03 8:12 PM |
| Veteran's Affairs | 3/10/03 2:14 AM |
| Defense Civil Programs | 3/10/03 10:44 PM |
| Housing and Urban Development | 3/11/03 6:45 PM |
| Department of Homeland Security | 3/12/03 12:23 PM |
| Other Independent Agencies | 3/13/03 12:56 AM |
| Department of Justice | 3/13/03 1:16 PM |
| Department of Energy | 3/13/03 11:57 PM |
| NASA | 3/14/03 8:35 AM |
| International Assistance | 3/14/03 4:58 PM |
| Department of the Interior | 3/14/03 11:12 PM |
| Department of State | 3/15/03 4:58 AM |
| EPA | 3/15/03 9:31 AM |
| Department of Commerce | 3/15/03 12:43 PM |
| Judicial Branch | 3/15/03 3:34 PM |
| National Science Foundation | 3/15/03 6:25 PM |
| Corps of Engineers | 3/15/03 9:12 PM |
| Legislative Branch | 3/15/03 11:18 PM |
| Small Business Administration | 3/15/03 11:39 PM |
| Executive Office of the President | 3/15/03 11:51 PM |
| General Services Administration | 3/16/03 12:00 AM |
I have to note that there was an entry in the Federal Budget for "relatively uncontrollable programs" under Allowances (really! it's here in this Excel file). What on Earth is this line referring to? Tokamaks? Shiva? Luckily, the entry is zero. What a relief - this proves incontrovertibly that there are no government programs that are relatively uncontrollable. Now, somebody sternly tell those protesters to quit making a racket.
Additional bits: In the U.K. Tax Freedom Day is June 2 (http://www.taxfreedomday.co.uk). In Canada, use this calculator to figure out your burden. In Cuba and North Korea, Tax Freedom Day is December 31.
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