Last Wednesday Sarah Palin was in my neck of the woods, Boston. In her speech on the Boston cattle pasture Common she trotted out the old yardstick about "Tax Freedom Day."
Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year in which a nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to fund its annual tax burden.
-wikipedia
She said:
"Americans now spend 100 days out of the year working for government before we even start working for ourselves," she said.
- politifact
That statement has been rated "mostly true" by politifact
"Really!" I said myself, "that would mean . . .
that we are paying less in taxes now than we were under Ronald Reagan. And you just admitted it."
When I was married to my first husband and the bread winner of our family I book marked in my head that "Tax Freedom Day" didn't come until the middle of May.
If we work 100 days now until Tax Freedom Day, that would mean that we wouldn't even get to April 15, the day our taxes are due, I reasoned.
January has 31 days
February has 28 days (29 in a leap year)
March has 31 days
= 90 days right there
So our "last day" paying the government is April 10.
huh, um
So I checked Tax Foundation, and it seems Sister Sarah rounded up. According to them Tax Freedom Day was April 9 this year, making it only 99 day. Or she could have using Wikipedia's definition, but using Wikipedia might be too socialistical for her.
Questioning whether I "remembered" what it was like in the 80s correctly I googled "Tax Freedom Day in 1985." Frankly, I didn't think I'd get anything since it was pretty much before the web. But to my surprise I found a Sun Sentinel article.
To illustrate that point, think back to New Year`s Eve when you celebrated the coming of 1987. Imagine that when the clock struck midnight, all the money you earned from that moment forward was earmarked for taxes of all types. According to the Tax Foundation, a respected Washington tax research organization, you will still be paying taxes until May 3.
According to politifact the calculation is based on a 365 day calendar not a business day calendar. And this number is for an average American of course.
So, if you have a memory for such things, and Palin either doesn't or clearly hoping no one does, she told everyone on Wednesday that they are doing better than they were in 80s under St. Ron.
What was that phrase Ronnie used when campaigning against Jimmy Carter?
[thinking] - [thinking] - [Googling]
Oh yeah!
"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
In 2006 Tax Freedom Day was April 24.
Yes there are a lot of variables in this calculus such as the recession, etc. (however we weren't this low during the recession in the 80s) - But Soundbite Sarah is never interested in that nuance, nor is the group she's playing too. Republicans are so anxious for President Obama to own the economy in second year, well he can own this.
Boo-yah!
******
updated to add:
Ugh! I forgot to bring my math all the way through:
100 days until Tax Freedom Day under President Obama < 123 days until Tax Freedom Day under President Reagan
What would my math teachers say? tsk, tsk, tsk
For the tea baggers 3rd grade math challenged, "<" means "less than." :-)</p>
as ontheleftcoast said in the comments
Somebody with some mad 'shop skills
or maybe video editting should do Sarah Palin as that Barbie doll that said, "Math is hard!". It so fits her image and fail.