by Mike Gray

According to Mattie Corrao, in an article published by The Heartland Institute:

[t]he average American worker had to toil through the first 231 days of 2010—more than 63 percent of the year—to pay off the costs of their state, local, and federal governments. This leaves just under four and half months for Americans to provide for themselves and their families before the growing tab of the cost of government comes due again.

But that isn’t due just to federal expenditure incontinence. State and local spendthrifts also “helped” to set this dubious record:

Federal spending, always the largest component of the cost of government, consumed 104 days of the average American’s life this year. The cost of sustaining state and local governments has likewise grown—taxpayers must work 52 days to pay off this burden, four days longer than in 2009.

In fact, against all good common sense some states have increased taxes rather than cut spending, which inevitably leads to a phenomenon known as “tax migration”:

States that pursue higher taxes to promote higher spending, however, see taxpayers leave in search of more friendly environments. The Cost of Government Day report not only details the migration of these taxpayers but also calculates the amount of income that moves with them. …. Between 1998 and 2008, the 10 states with the highest tax burdens lost more than three million residents, who took with them $92 billion in income. In the same period the states with the lowest tax burdens gained 2.3 million new residents, who brought with them $92 billion in wealth.

To their credit (pun intended), some states have instituted greater “transparency” as “a good first step toward reducing wasteful spending”; but unless the federal, state, and local governments stop maxing out the taxpayers’ credit card, transparency will only afford a better view of the Titanic as she goes down.