From Americans for Tax Reform

Every year, Americans for Tax Reform Foundation publishes its Cost of Government Day report, which calculates the day on the calendar year until which the average American must work to pay for the full costs of government spending and regulation. The study is available online at www.CostOfGovernmentDay.com “Highlights” of the report are as follows:

• Overall government burden: This year, Cost of Government Day falls on August 12, meaning Americans labor a full 224 days into the year to pay for local, state and federal government spending and regulations.
• Impact of Obama overspending: Americans have lost 29 days of the calendar year thanks to Obama’s overspending and regulatory zeal. 2011 marks the third straight year COGD has fallen in August. Prior to the Obama Administration, COGD had never fallen later than July 21.
• Stimulus, bailouts, and federal spending: The effects of the bailouts and failed “stimulus” plan are still being felt by Americans, who must work a full 103 days to pay for the costs of federal spending.
• State and local government spending: Americans spend 44 days working to pay off state and local government spending.
• Regulatory burden of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank: Americans are forced to labor 77 days to pay for total federal regulations, a workload that will increase exponentially with the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known more popularly as Obamacare.
• Cost of Government Day in the fifty states: The report also measures varying government burdens in each state to calculate their respective state Cost of Government Day. As in past years, taxpayers in Connecticut must work the latest to celebrate their COGD, laboring all the way until September 10 to pay off the full costs of government. Taxpayers in Mississippi worked the shortest amount of time to pay off their burden off government, laboring until July 19.
• Case Studies: The report also details the impact on COGD of many factors in the growing cost of government. Case studies in the report discuss: The Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul which will severely increase the number of days Americans must work to pay off the regulatory burden; Obamacare, which will fail to rein in health care costs and continue to increase federal spending; The EPA, which has pursued an aggressive regulatory agenda that will further stall economic recovery.

State-by-State Breakdown

The calculation of the Cost of Government Day for each state is based on the varying government burdens suffered in each state. Federal tax and spending burdens are large contributing factors. These federal burdens vary because relatively higher burdens are borne by states with relatively higher incomes. State and local tax and spending burdens vary as well.

As in previous years, the latest Cost of Government Day is in Connecticut, with the average worker toiling all the way until September 10 (twenty nine days past the national average) to pay off all the costs of government. The dubious honor of second place is held by New Jersey, with COGD falling on September 6. New York follows right behind on August 30, with Maryland maintaining fourth place for the second year in a row at August 20.

Mississippi	3	1	200	19-Jul
Tennessee	6	2	201	20-Jul
Louisiana	10	3	204	23-Jul
New Mexico	6	4	207	26-Jul
South Dakota	4	4	207	26-Jul
West Virginia	6	4	207	26-Jul
Alabama	8	8	210	29-Jul
Arizona	14	8	210	29-Jul
Kentucky	10	8	210	29-Jul
Nevada	8	8	210	29-Jul
Oklahoma	21	8	210	29-Jul
Alaska	1	13	211	30-Jul
Arkansas	10	13	211	30-Jul
Georgia	27	13	211	30-Jul
Idaho	27	13	211	30-Jul
Maine	14	17	213	1-Aug
Missouri	14	17	213	1-Aug
Indiana	21	19	214	2-Aug
Montana	18	19	214	2-Aug
Hawaii	32	21	216	4-Aug
Iowa	14	21	216	4-Aug
North Carolina	24	21	216	4-Aug
Ohio	27	21	216	4-Aug
Michigan	27	25	217	5-Aug
Texas	18	25	217	5-Aug
Colorado	33	27	219	7-Aug
Oregon	27	27	219	7-Aug
New Hampshire	21	29	220	8-Aug
Delaware	33	30	221	9-Aug
Kansas	24	30	221	9-Aug
Utah	35	30	221	9-Aug
Vermont	40	30	221	9-Aug
Florida	18	34	223	11-Aug
North Dakota	10	34	223	11-Aug
National Average	-	-	224	12-Aug
Nebraska	24	36	224	12-Aug
Virginia	40	36	224	12-Aug
Rhode Island	38	38	226	14-Aug
Wyoming	35	38	226	14-Aug
Massachusetts	44	40	227	15-Aug
Pennsylvania	40	40	227	15-Aug
Illinois	35	42	229	17-Aug
California	44	43	230	18-Aug
Minnesota	40	43	230	18-Aug
Washington	46	43	230	18-Aug
Wisconsin	38	43	230	18-Aug
District of Columbia	-	-	230	18-Aug
Maryland	47	47	232	20-Aug
New York	48	48	242	30-Aug
New Jersey	49	49	249	6-Sep
Connecticut	50	50	253	10-Sep

In addition to showing state rankings for COGD in 2011, the largest changes in cost of government days and overall ranking since 2010 are highlighted.

	Top 5 2011 Increases COGD by Rank		5 Largest COGD Increases Relative to National Average
North Dakota	24	Alaska	11
Florida	16	North Dakota	8
Alaska	12	Florida	7
Nebraska	12	Louisiana	6
New Hampshire	8	Nebraska	5

	Top 5 2011 Decreases COGD by Rank		5 Largest COGD Decreases Relative to National Average
Georgia	-14	Georgia	-10
Idaho	-14	Idaho	-10
Oklahoma	-13	South Carolina	-10
Hawaii	-11	Tennessee	-10
Vermont	-10	Oklahoma/Vermont	-8

MORE INFO: www.CostOfGovernmentDay.com