By Cole Lauterbach
SPRINGFIELD – Illinoisans will have to work until April 29 to pay off their tax burdens this year, according to a national tax group.
The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation adds up all of the federal, state and local taxes and then divides the number by the national income. Tax Freedom Day is the date when people earn enough collectively to pay off their yearly tax burdens. Under the state-by-state calculation, Illinoisans will have to work for 119 days to pay their taxes for 2016. This is two more days than Wisconsin and 11 more than Indiana.
Joseph Henchman, vice president of Legal and State Projects at the Tax Foundation, says calculating the dates helps people understand how much of their paychecks go to taxes.
“You can tell people that the national tax burden will be 31 percent of the national income, but the calendar date really speaks to people in a way that those measures don’t,” Henchman said.
Illinois’ tax burden was worse between 2011 and 2014, Henchman said, referring to the years during which the state’s temporary income-tax hike increased the personal income-tax rate by 67 percent. “Illinois’ state and local tax burden has fallen significantly in the last two years,” he said.
According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will spend more on taxes in 2016 than they will on food, clothing and housing combined.
