We stopped feeding the PIGs!

Cost of Government Day (COGD) 
[2005] [2004] [2003] [2002] [2001]

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OVERVIEW OF RESULTS

Definition

Cost of Government Day (COGD) is the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government on the federal, state and local levels.

Cost of Government Day 2008

Cost of Government Day for 2008 is July 16.  Working people must toil on average 197 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government.  In other words, the cost of government consumes 53.9 percent of national income.

Cost of Government: Trends

Cost of Government Day falls four days later in 2008 than last year’s revised date of July 12.  In 2008, the average American will have to work an additional 17 days out of the year to pay off his or her cost of government compared to 2000, when the COGD was June 29. 

In fact, since 1977, COGD has fallen later than July 16 in only four of those 32 years - in 1982 and 1983, and in 1992 and 1993.  The driving factor for this development is the fact that all components of the cost of government – federal spending, state and local spending, and regulation – are now increasing faster than national income.

This increase in the cost of government stands in sharp contrast to at least two periods in the past thirty years: COGD fell sharply from a high of July 20 in 1992 to June 29 in 1999 and 2000.  In addition, COGD declined from a record high of July 23 in 1982 to July 3 in 1989.  Both of these declines resulted from a combination of restraining the growth of federal spending while the economy was booming and rapidly increasing national income.

 

Cost of Government Day 1977 – 2008

Source : Americans for Tax Reform

Source of the term PIGs (Party In Government) : Dad29