And, No, Lunch Is Not on Uncle Sam

WASHINGTON — Taxpayers who jammed post offices to mail their returns before last night’s midnight deadline can ponder this: The average American works almost until lunchtime each day just to pay federal, state and local taxes.

According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization financed partly by corporations, the average American devotes two hours and 46 minutes (three minutes more for Californians) of every eight-hour workday to earn enough to pay taxes.

Patrick Fleenor, the foundation’s economist, said taxes consume 34.4% of the typical person’s gross income--22.6% for federal taxes and 11.8% for state and local levies. That’s a bigger chunk of gross income than a typical American spends on food, clothing and shelter combined.

Looked at another way, the average taxpayer this year must work 126 days to pay taxes, putting Tax Freedom Day--as the foundation calls it--on May 6, tied with last year for the latest ever. For Californians, the day comes May 9.

The Tax Foundation, like many groups, uses today’s IRS filing deadline--when Americans’ minds are on taxes--to focus attention on its views.

Republican presidential hopeful Arlen Specter, a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, used the tax-filing deadline to launch radio spots in Iowa and New Hampshire pushing his flat-tax proposal.

The Tax Foundation’s report, an annual tradition, is challenged by such groups as Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-financed research organization, which points to the value received for tax dollars.

“The implication that somehow this money goes to Washington and disappears just isn’t true,” said Robert S. McIntyre, the group’s director. “It shows up in roads. It shows up in a cleaner environment. It shows up in national defense. . . . Every nickel that goes in comes back in some way or another.”