Americans Work Longer For Taxes

A typical American works almost until lunch time to pay federal, state and local taxes before earning a penny for food, clothing or shelter.

The tax bite in an eight-hour day will amount to two hours and 47 minutes this year, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization financed partially by corporate grants.

That means a worker arriving at his or her desk at 9 a.m. would have earned enough to pay federal taxes by 10:50 a.m. and enough to pay state and local taxes by 11:47 a.m.

This year’s tax bite work period ties last year’s for the longest on record. And it’s 15 minutes longer than the work time needed to pay for food, clothing and shelter.

Fifty years ago, the tax bite work period was 50 minutes shorter and a decade ago it was nine minutes less.