This means that for 117 days in 2002-- about one-third of the year-- every penny earned by the average American went to the government. In fact, as a nation, America will spend more of our year working for the bureaucrats than we will spend working to pay for our food, clothing, and shelter combined.

Thus, every day you woke up in January, Febuary, March, and most of April, hit the alarm clock and went to work, your labor was not for you or your family, but to fuel government spending. Which begs the question: is Congress doing its part to control spending and eliminate wasteful and unnecessary programs?

Tax Freedom Day is calculated by the non-partisan Tax Foundation. You can get more information from their web site, including a breakdown of Tax Freedom Days by state.

Thanks in part to the Bush tax cut, the 2002 Tax Freedom Day is two days earlier than in 2001 and four days earlier than in 2000. That's why we need to make the Bush Tax Cut Permanent.