Mr. HULTGREN. Mr. Speaker, for my neighbors and friends back home in Illinois, and families across the country, today is Tax Freedom Day, the date after which the average American worker will finally start earning money for themselves after working just to pay their Federal, State, and local tax obligations in 2013, meaning it takes all of the wages earned by the average worker from January 1 to April 18 just to pay off this year's tax debt. Pretty astounding.
To put it in perspective, back in 1900, Tax Freedom Day was January 22, when taxes amounted to 5.9 percent of a person's income. Today that figure has grown to 29.4 percent.
We've come a long way in the past century, digging deeper and deeper into the pockets of hardworking men and women in America, and digging ourselves deeper into debt in the process.
The tax reform component of the budget this House passed in March would take a major step forward, allowing families to keep more of the money they earn and making government more accountable.
Let's finish the job this year.