Happy Income Redistribution Day!

Today is that most mirthless of days, April 15, tax filing day, or as we in our humble shop have long dubbed it, "Income Redistribution Day." It's the day each year when government confiscates money from about half the nation's citizens and gives a lot of it to the other half. (That's an over-generalization, but you get the idea.) At least they didn't choose April 19 -- Patriots' Day -- for tax filing. In honor of today, here are a few things to remember about taxes and the IRS.

It will take Americans 114 days this year to fully pay for the burden of all the levels of government — three more days than last year. In other words, when you pay your taxes today you'll still have to work another nine days just to actually pay them off.

The top 20% of earners bring in 51.3% of all income and yet pay 83.9% of all federal income taxes. By contrast, the bottom 20% of earners actually receive money from Washington those in higher brackets. What was that about a "fair share" again?

Just shy of half of all federal tax revenue goes to major earned and unearned entitlements — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other health care programs (VA, Tricare).  (Some government benefits are "earned," like Social Security or military benefits. These stand in contrast to "unearned" benefits of welfare, food stamps and the like.)

Another 20% goes to various wealth transfer programs like unemployment benefits and food stamps. That's more than two-thirds of the federal budget that goes from your pocket to someone else's. See why we call it "Income Redistribution Day"?

Post script: Today, April 15th, Barack Obama has decreed that all flags are to be flown at half mast "as a Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln," who was assassinated 150 years ago yesterday. We can think of other reasons to fly them at half mast, like the fact today is "Forced Income Redistribution Day," or that Barack Obama is president.

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