Happy Tax Freedom Day! And if you’re thinking it feels early this year, you’re right…
In 2009, Tax Freedom Day in the US arrives on April 13, the earliest it’s appeared since 1967, according to the Tax Foundation. That’s more than a week earlier than last year and two weeks earlier than in 2007.
Tax Day marks the day that taxpayers have earned enough money to pay their taxes for the year. The idea was conceived in 1948 by Florida businessman Dallas Hostetler. Hostetler eventually transferred the trademarked day to the Tax Foundation, which has calculated Tax Freedom Day for various nations and the states ever since.
Why so early for the US this year? The recession and the stimulus package have combined to reduce the overall tax burden faster in 2009 (a trend that may continue through 2010). See?! A silver lining!
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Tax Freedom Day
Despite the fact that former Sen. Phil Gramm thinks that Americans are merely in a “mental recession”, a survey conducted by Suffolk University seems to imply otherwise. More than 80% of those surveyed (all small business owners from across the country with 100 employees or less) believe the country is in an actual economic recession. More than that, nearly 86%, feel that the government is doing “nothing” or “little” to help small businesses.
But what about those stimulus checks?
Almost 80% of small business owners report that the economic stimulus checks made no difference to their own business. In contrast, 72% of those surveyed believe that the government is more focused on big businesses and Wall Street than small businesses.
But come on, it can’t be all that bad… It’ll get better, right? If you think so, you’re in the minority. Only 18% of those surveyed believe that the economy will get better by the end of the year.
What do you think?
As talk of recession increases, I’m hearing more and more folks question the merits of higher education. I have to say, I completely understand where they are coming from…
While it’s true that many jobs require a college education – or beyond (like law) – increasingly, you can find a decent job without a college education. This is especially common in the tech industry where some knowledge in java or html can take you a lot further than biology.
Let me be clear: I believe in education. I am thankful to have been the first person in my family to graduate from college. I am especially proud to be the only person in my family – extended or otherwise – to graduate from law school. But education in the United States is expensive. Very expensive.
That’s why it was especially galling to witness an update on CNN the other day about how the credit crunch was hitting student loans. With the average cost of attending a public university reaching $16,000 per year and the average cost of attending a private university reaching $33,000 per year, that places a real burden on American families. The expert’s answer? Try to get a grant or scholarship. Apparently, it’s just that easy.
As a good student who relied upon scholarships, grants and yes, a whole lot of loans, it’s interesting to me how many folks just don’t “get” how very expensive it can be to attend college and graduate school – just like that expert who thought that a grant or two would make all of the difference. In fact, many of the folks who point fingers at lawyers like me and whisper about how rich we must be, clearly don’t understand the struggles of paying down hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of college and grad school loans. And our tax code? It allows just a tiny little bit of a deduction for the mountains of interest on these loans – far less than the other investment in young taxpayers’ lives: their homes.
So is it worth it to go to college and law school? I have some thoughts about that for another post…
