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Examining Tax Freedom Day in Virginia

AP Photo / Susan Walsh

This week’s tax filing deadline has many people thinking about the tax burden they face. But today marks another significant tax-related event.

Monday April 15th may have been Tax Day, the annual deadline for filing federal income taxes. But Tuesday April 16th is another milestone, perhaps just as significant: Tax Freedom Day. That means all the money you've earned so far this year has gone to pay federal and state taxes.

“33 of those days are spent paying your state taxes in Virginia. The remainder of those 105 days are for your federal taxes,” says Jared Walczak at the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.

“That’s a lot of time, obviously, to be working to pay for government. And it varies greatly from person to person. But that’s how much it is in aggregate that we’re working to pay our overall tax liability,” he says.

Bill Bergman at the non-profit group Truth in Accounting says Virginia is actually in pretty good shape compared to other states.

“When you look across the 50 states, older states tend to be in worse shape, and Virginia is one of those states that is actually an old state but is also in relatively good shape," says Bergman.

"And, as a consequence of living up to what it tells its citizens is a balanced budget requirement.”

But don’t let that balanced budget requirement fool you. Virginia has a state debt of $28 billion. That’s a per capita state debt of more than $3,000 for every man, woman and child in the Commonwealth.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria.