Tax Freedom Day for NJ Is May 1 [AUDIO]

It’s the middle of April, but you still haven’t earned enough to pay all of your tax obligations for 2012. On May 1, you will finally start earning money for yourself, not the government.

May 1 is New Jersey’s Tax Freedom Day, the day people have earned enough money in the year to pay their combined federal, state and local tax bill.

New Jersey’s date is the second-latest nationwide, behind Connecticut. Most states have already reached their Tax Freedom Day.

Will McBride with The Tax Foundation, which releases the state-by-state statistics, said New Jersey’s high average income is a big reason residents work 121 days into the year before fully paying their tax obligation.

“That’s a big factor because the biggest tax is the federal personal income tax, which is a highly progressive tax,” McBride explained.

He said New Jersey is also, generally, a high-taxed state, according to other Tax Foundation reports.

The Garden State has always been close behind Connecticut in the Tax Freedom rankings. Last year, New Jersey’s freedom date was April 29.

The national average for 2012 is a Tax Freedom Day of April 17.

Tax Freedom Day is a vivid, calendar-based illustration of government’s cost, and it gives Americans an easy way to gauge the overall tax take. The idea was conceived by a Florida businessman in 1948.