In 2014, Cost of Government Day falls on July 6.This day marks the point during the year when the average American has earned enough income to pay for his or her share of the spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government at the federal, state and local levels. While Americans may be celebrating Independence Day on July 4, they are still working to pay for the full cost of government until the end of the weekend. This will be the sixth consecutive year that COGD will fall in July; prior to President Obama taking office, COGD had never fallen after June 27.
All told, the full costs of government amount to 51 percent of GDP. Workers toil 121 days to pay for government spending alone, and 65 days to pay for regulatory costs. All told, Americans labor 186 days to pay off the full burden of government.
States like Connecticut and New Jersey must work past national COGD in order to pay for the costs of high spending and taxes in their states. The latest state COGD once again occurs in Connecticut, falling on July 26 for 2014. The earliest COGD goes to Louisiana, occurring on June 12 this year.
Reflecting the success of efforts by Republicans in Washington to cut the size of government by capping discretionary spending, the days worked to pay for federal spending decreased since last year. However, federal regulatory costs have increased since 2013. Increased unilateral executive action will only push these costs higher. While Americans worked 65 days to pay for the costs imposed by regulation in 2014, if the regulatory regime grows larger it will almost certainly auger much later Cost of Government Days in the future.