Canada -Tax Day

The Eraser Institute — the Vancouver think tank that calculates the date each year when the typical Canadian stops working for governments and starts working for him- or herself — figures in 2012 the average Canadian family will earn $94,259 in income and pay a total of $41,627 in taxes, or 44.2%.

That means they will work until June 10 to discharge their obligation to government.

Then beginning June 11 they can start earning the money they need to put a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food on the table.

Taxes now consume more of a family's budget than food, clothing and shelter combined.

This is better than it was under the former Liberal government. In 2000, while Jean Chretien was prime minister, Tax Freedom Day fell on June 25 — a full two weeks later than this year — the latest TFD in Canadian history.

Still, this year's TFD of June 11 is more than six weeks later than it was in 1961, the first year for which Fraser has done detailed calculations.

Canadians have gained socialized medicine since then and universal pensions, but it is hard to imagine that the extra benefits are worth the extra month-and-a-half of indentured servitude.

Most of the added costs are not the result of more or better service, but rather of an ever-expanding bureaucracy and higher and higher public-sector wages and benefits.