Citizens More Taxed Now Than Under King George
by Mark J. Perry

(This article appeared in the Detroit News on  June 28, 1997.)

We are about to celebrate our nation's most important holiday - Independence Day.  On the Fourth of July we recognize the birth of America as a free nation on the anniversary of the day that the early colonists declared themselves free from British rule in one of the great political documents of history.  The Declaration of Independence, adopted by delegates of the thirteen colonies on July 4, 1776, was a rejection of the heavy burden of British statist policies, mercantilism and onerous taxation.        

The month of July has more than one important date for Americans to observe.  Aside from July 4, we should also pause and take note of July 3.  Every year, a group called Americans for Tax Reform calculates the Cost of Government Day, the date during the calendar year on which the average American has earned enough gross income to pay for his or her share of all federal, state and local government expenditures, and for the cost of all federal regulations.  This year the Cost of Government Day will fall on July 3!  Only on July 3 will the average American be free from their full annual obligation to their local, state and federal government.
    
Isn't it ironic that we celebrate Independence Day on July 4 to recognize our rejection of oppressive British regulation, mercantilism and taxation, and yet the typical American now works until the beginning of July to pay for Big Government?  We celebrate our declaration of independence from the British government when we are just barely free from the burden of our current government.  
    
How can we celebrate a declaration of independence from Britain and at the same time be complacent about a current tax burden from our own government that is far more oppressive as that of the British government in the 1700s?        
    
From the late 1700s until the 1930s total federal and state government spending rarely exceeded ten percent of national income, there were no budget deficits, and the economy was relatively unregulated.  Therefore, the Cost of Government Day never went much past February 1 during that period.  Since the 1930s, government spending and regulations have gradually swollen the size and regulatory burden of government to the current bloated level of more than 50% of national income, so that the Cost of Government Day typically occurs now at the beginning of July, more than halfway through the year.
     
The growth of Big Government over the last seventy years and the accompanying tax and regulatory burden has happened so gradually that we have hardly realized it.  People never give up their freedom all at once, but they will tolerate losing freedom gradually over time, as we have seen happen in this century.  True freedom demands constant vigilance so that our freedoms aren't gradually taken away from us.  To quote Ronald Reagan, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  
    
Independence Day on July 4 is a national holiday to celebrate the early colonists’ determination to resist the encroaching power of the mercantilist British government.  It should be considered a national embarassment that the average American is just barely free from the  the burden of our current state and federal government at the time we celebrate our freedom from King George III.  This year’s Cost of Government Day on July 3 shows us that he current level of taxation and regulation that we tolerate from our own government is far more oppressive than anything King George III had to offer.  

As we celebrate this year’s Independence Day, we ought to also consider that our independence is not something to be secured at one moment of time, it requires a constant struggle.  July 4th reminds us of the fight for freedom over 200 years ago and July 3 - Cost of Government Day - should remind us of how much freedom we have lost since 1776.